President Barack Obama pledged on Thursday that his administration is committed to developing plug-in hybrid cars so as to reduce dependence on foreign oil.

Touring the Electric Vehicle Technical Center run by Southern California Edison in Pomona of Los Angeles, Obama said his administration will help put 1 million plug-in hybrids on the road by 2015.

To achieve this goal, US$7,500 tax credits will be offered to people who buy them, said the president.

Obama said the incentives are part of an overall plan to upgrade the nation's energy infrastructure.

He stressed the need for the nation to be independence from foreign oil, saying this would be a priority of his administration.

"The problem isn't a lack of technology," he said. "You're producing the technology right here. The problem is that, for decades, we have avoided doing what must be done as a nation to turn challenge into opportunity. As a consequence, we import more oil today than we did on 9/11."

The president also announced "a US$400 million down payment on the infrastructure needed to get hybrids on road," and US$1 billion investment in upgrading the nation's power grid.

"And even as our economy has been transformed by new forms of technology, our electric grid looks largely the same as it did half a century ago," Obama said.

"We'll do this because we know that the nation that leads on energy will be the nation that leads the world in the 21st century," Obama said.

He said change will not be easy and progress may seem slow.

Obama also said that Germany and Spain are way ahead of the United States in terms of solar energy.

The vehicle center Obama toured is one of two federal Department of Energy test areas designed to evaluate electric car performance.

The vehicle center was the first stop for the president on Thursday, who will cap his whirlwind tour with his second town hall-style meeting Thursday afternoon at the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex in Los Angeles and a visit to "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno."

At the town hall meeting, Obama will be joined by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, who has been supportive of the federal stimulus package, which includes hundreds of billions of dollars for infrastructure projects around the country.

California has already received approval for US$625 million in federal funds for 57 projects.

Also attending the town hall meeting will be Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

The president arrived in Southern California on Wednesday for a two-day visit as he took his campaign to sell the administration's economic policies to a region coping with rising unemployment, reduced housing prices and an ongoing state budget crisis.

After landing in Long Beach, about 48 kilometers south of Los Angeles on Wednesday, the president took part in a town hall meeting in Costa Mesa of Orange County.