In Today’s edition of the Washington Times they report that “Nearly half of the $2.4 billion in federal grant money awarded Wednesday to stimulate the U.S. economy and boost the production of hybrid and electric vehicles went to six companies with ties to places as far away as Russia, China, South Korea and France.”
As former publicity chairman for APEC, an international electronics conference, in addition to our traditional topic areas, we focused on “state of the art” battery technologies including the automotive industry. A majority of the engineers engaged in that development came to our conferences from multiple Asian and European nations. They were the braintrust responsible for much of the emerging battery technologies we read about today. In 1996 we had advanced students from the University of Rome addressing hybrid battery technology at that conference. Two years later some of my colleagues from GM R&D in Michigan presented their design concepts. The following year, 1999, engineering students from Ireland and Korea presented two other approaches to meeting what we are taking for granted now.
At the same time we acknowledged that any product that is mass produced, and to be cost competitive in the marketplace, requires some form of joint venture/partnership or direct facility ownership if possible with a foreign source.
While we may produce prototypes and build pilot runs in America, that’s about all one should expect as the automobile industry is very cost sensitive. That said I am not surprised to hear that virtually half of the stimulus funding will not create domestic jobs.
Following are some specific contract references from Jerry Seper’s Washington Times article.
- Story title: Grants impel electric cars
Nearly half of the $2.4 billion in federal grant money awarded Wednesday to stimulate the U.S. economy and boost the production of hybrid and electric vehicles went to six companies with ties to places as far away as Russia, China, South Korea and France.
Three grants went to General Motors Corp., one for $105.9 million to help produce high-volume battery packs for the GM Volt automobile. But cells for the packs will be built in South Korea and by “other cell providers to be named.”
The largest single grant, for $299.2 million, went to Johnson Controls Inc. for the production of nickel-cobalt-metal battery cells and packs at plants it plans to build in Holland, Mich., and Lebanon, Ore. Johnson has partnered with Saft Advanced Power Solutions LLC, a French company, to develop the batteries. Saft, which makes its batteries in France, also won a separate $95.5 million grant.
A123 Systems Inc., which received $249.1 million, is looking to construct manufacturing plants in Romulus and Brownstown, Mich., to build battery cells and modules, but now produces its batteries in China.
KD ABG MI LLC of Midland, Mich., received $161 million for the production of manganese oxide cathode and graphite lithium-ion batteries in that state. It is a joint venture between U.S.-based Dow Chemical Co., South Korea’s Kokam Co. and some venture capital firms.
Compact Power Inc. in Troy, Mich., won a $151.4 million grant to produce the new batteries and build factories in Michigan. It is the U.S. subsidiary of LG Chem Ltd., a South Korean company.
And EnerDel Inc. of Indianapolis, which received $118.5 million to build lithium-ion batteries at plants it owns in Indiana, is a subsidiary of companies controlled by a Russian oligarch.
The full story can be read at the following link:
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