Longtime car fan Biden lives his electric dreams

Longtime car fan Biden lives his electric dreams

DEARBORN, US: Joe Biden, sporting aviator sunglasses, looked out from the driver’s seat of Ford’s new electric truck and delivered a presidential proclamation: “This sucker’s quick.” The battery-powered Ford F-150 Lightning was unveiled yesterday as the auto giant’s new big bet on the emerging electric auto market. But avid car enthusiast Biden not only got a sneak preview Tuesday, but he managed a test drive.

Streaking across the enormous tarmac expanse of Ford’s proving grounds in Dearborn, Michigan, with just a Secret Service agent in the passenger seat for company, Biden appeared to be living his dream. The pickup truck, almost silent, flashed across the hot, hazy surface before turning back to journalists accompanying the president.

At 78, Biden is the oldest person ever elected to the White House but at the wheel he acted more like a giddy teenage driver. The Lightning can hit 0-60 mph in about 4.4 seconds, he marveled, prompting a moment of consternation among Ford executives who had wanted to keep details like that secret until launch day. When queried by a journalist whether she could ask him a question about ongoing fighting in Israel, Biden snapped in a mock rebuke: “No you can’t. Not unless you