Obama says US must shift cars, trucks off oil

LEMONT, Ill. (AP) — President Barack Obama says the U.S. must shift its cars and trucks entirely off oil to avoid perpetual fluctuations in gas prices.

He says he expects by the middle of the next decade, Americans will only have to fill up their cars half as often.

Obama is calling on Congress to authorize $200 million a year for research into things like electric car batteries and biofuels that can wean automobiles off oil. He's proposing an energy security trust that would use revenues from federal leases on offshore drilling.

Obama says during a visit to the Argonne National Laboratory outside Chicago that American energy provides one of the greatest opportunities for economic growth. He says the U.S. can't miss opportunities while the rest of the world moves forward.