Good news for the electric vehicle industry. President Obama announced $2.4 billion in grants he intends to designate to the electric vehicle industry. After promoting environmentally friendly vehicles on Jay Leno last night, the auto industry is reveling in the news that Obama plans to put one million of the environmentally friendly vehicles on the roads by 2015.

“We can let the jobs of tomorrow be created abroad or we can create them here in America and lay the foundation for lasting prosperity,” Obama said while touring the Southern California Edison Electric Vehicle Technical Center.

Operating for 16 years, the Edison Electric Vehicle Center maintains a fleet of more than 300 electric and gas-electric hybrid vehicles that it says has logged more than 17 million miles.

“We’ve been at times feeling maybe a little lonely out there with our support for electric transportation,” Edison International Chairman Ted Craver Jr. said after showing Obama around the plant. “To have this recognition, this exposure of electric transportation and what we have been able to accomplish is just a real thrill for the company.”

“Whether you capture everybody’s enthusiasm and get the adoption, of course, is part of what all of this is about,” Craver said of Obama’s plan to put one million more electric vehicles on the road. “To get people to understand what the benefits are and how it could really be good for the system and good for the individual.”