President Obama has announced which US companies have been awarded Department of Energy stimulus money grants to build manufacturing plants for electric vehicles and batteries.
The announcement, made in Elkhart, Indiana, marks the single largest investment in advanced battery technology for hybrid and electric-drive vehicles ever made and could cut the cost of batteries for US-produced hybrid cars by 40%.
"If we want to reduce our dependence on oil, put Americans back to work and reassert our manufacturing sector as one of the greatest in the world, we must produce the advanced, efficient vehicles of the future," said President Obama.
Industry officials expect that this $2.4 billion investment in 25 states, coupled with another $2.4 billion in cost share from the 48 award winners, will result directly in the creation tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs.
"These are incredibly effective investments that will come back to us many times over—by creating jobs, reducing our dependence on foreign oil, cleaning up the air we breathe, and combating climate change," said US Energy Secretary Steven Chu at an event in Charlotte, North Carolina. "They will help achieve the President's goal of putting one million plug-in hybrid vehicles on the road by 2015. And, most importantly, they will launch an advanced battery industry in America and make our auto industry cleaner and more competitive."
The new awards are split into three separate programs:
$1.5 billion in grants to US-based manufacturers to produce batteries and their components and to expand battery recycling capacity;$500 million in grants to US-based manufacturers to produce other related components for electric vechicles; and$400 million in grants to purchase thousands of plug-in hybrid and all-electric vehicles for test demonstrations, to deploy them and evaluate their performance, to install electric charging infrastructure, and to provide education and workforce training to support the transition to advanced electric transportation systems.
Of the 48 funded projects, 18 worth more than $1 billion will be based in Michigan, which has been hard hit by the recession. Two companies, A123 (for lithium-ion battery packs) and Johnson Controls (for nickel-cobalt battery cells and packs), will receive more than $550 million to establish a manufacturing base in the state for advanced batteries, and two others, Compact Power and Dow Kokam, will receive a total of over $300 million for manufacturing battery cells and materials that will be used by the Chevrolet Volt electric car. The DOE placed an order for 600 Chevy Volts for testing purposes as part of the testing program.
Large automakers based in Michigan, including GM, Chrysler, and Ford, will receive a total of more than $400 million to manufacture thousands of advanced hybrid and electric vehicles as well as batteries and electric drive components. And three Michigan Universities — the University of Michigan, Wayne State University in Detroit, and Michigan Technological University in Houghton in the Upper Peninsula — will share $10 million for education and workforce training programs.
In Indiana, EnerDel received $118.5 million to expand lithium ion battery manufacturing in order to supply the electric car companies Fisker Automotive and Norway's Think. Saft America will receive $95.5 million to produce lithium ion cells and batteries for industrial, agricultural, and defense vehicles.
Although no Japanese or European car comapny benefited directly from the stimulus funds, Nissan, which earlier this week announced an all-electric car called "Leaf" will indirectly benefit, as DOE will invest $100 million in eTec's and Nissan's charging stations to see how reliable they work with Leaf and other electric vehicles.
Paul Guinnessy
