After making investment after investment in electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, the Obama administration will put more money into a symbolic gesture of support for the burgeoning technology.

The White House said it will purchase the “first 100 plug-in electric vehicles to roll off American assembly lines.” By this it means the much anticipated Chevrolet Volt.

The announcement comes on the day GM began building its first production models at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant in Michigan. The automaker plans to build a few thousand Volts in its first year and eventually climb to 60,000 units annually.

President Barack Obama, for his part, has said he wants to see a million plug-in hybrids on the roads by 2015. In making this announcement, Obama also said the federal government would open off-shore drilling sites off the East Coast and double its purchase of hybrids to 5,000.

Obama Administration to Buy First 100 Chevy Volts (Detroit Free Press)