The Biden administration on Thursday awarded $1.7 billion to convert nearly a dozen shuttered or at-risk automobile plants into factories that can make electric vehicles and their parts.

The grants will assist 11 plants across eight states — Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, and Virginia — and are designed to support “good-paying union jobs” while helping the U.S. compete with foreign players in the EV market, according to the Department of Energy.

President Biden wants to shift the U.S. to EVs instead of gas-powered cars as part of his climate change agenda. He is also positioning himself as a champion of blue-collar union labor and wants to ensure those goals are not at odds with each other.

“Building a clean energy economy can and should be a win-win for union autoworkers and automakers,” Mr. Biden said. “This investment will create thousands of good-paying, union manufacturing jobs and retain even more — from Lansing, Michigan to Fort Valley, Georgia — by helping auto companies retool, reboot, and rehire in the same factories and communities.”