DOESN'T MATTER if a useful, safe, reliable or a to-die-for electric
car is not even on U.S. drawing boards yet. Lobbyists and your fave
Congressional reps see a bu$ine$$ opportunity that just can't miss!


"These things will be the biggest boon to U.S. transportation since
Big Wheels."

-- A.G.
Calhoun, CEO, Trough Industries, Inc.

-----------------
"A Jump-Start for New Battery Plants"

"Encouraged by Federal Aid, U.S. Firms Spring to Power Next Generation
of Cars"

By Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 25, 2009


The Energy Department is getting ready to hand out about $2 billion in
grants to create a domestic industry for electric-car batteries, and
122 companies are scrambling to get pieces.

The companies range from small niche firms to giants such as Dow
Chemical and Johnson Controls. All are promising a combination of
innovation and ability to deliver new products on a commercial scale
to prevent the United States from trading dependence on foreign oil or
reliance on foreign-made batteries.

"We've had 20 years of bad behavior in the United States in terms of
developing ideas into products," said Mary Ann Wright, chief executive
of Johnson Controls's joint venture developing hybrid battery
systems.

Now policymakers hope that helping domestic battery manufacturers will
produce economic savings that often come with large-scale production
and which are needed to make electric cars affordable. With funds
provided by the stimulus bill in February, the Energy Department can
cover up to half the cost of a battery-related project.

"This investment will not only reduce our dependence on foreign oil,
it will put Americans back to work," President Obama said in March.
"It positions American manufacturers on the cutting edge of innovation
and solving our energy challenges."

The federally funded battery effort has its skeptics. Grants are
expected to focus on lightweight lithium-ion batteries similar to
those found in laptops. They are the newest thing in a business that
had not changed much since lead-acid batteries were invented a century
and a half ago.

But U.S. hopefuls face stiff competition from foreign firms such as
Japan's Panasonic and Sony, and South Korea's LG Chem, which already
dominate the lithium-ion battery market in power tools, laptops and
cellphones. Some domestic firms have recruited foreign companies as
partners in new U.S.-based manufacturing facilities.

Moreover, some economists warn of the perils of government subsidies.
"To the extent that this is part of a broader industrial policy
scheme, I'm against it for all the reasons I've always been against
it," said Charles Schultze, a Brookings Institution senior fellow and
former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. "If you're not
heavy-handed about screening [applications], you're going to get a lot
of the equivalent of political pork."

Some industry experts also note that lithium-ion batteries may not be
ready for tough road conditions, that they generate a lot of heat and
that there is no infrastructure for recycling them. For the moment, it
is easier to recycle lead-acid batteries, like those in combustion-
engine cars, or nickel-metal hydride batteries, like those in the
current generation of hybrid vehicles.

Nonetheless, Obama has set a goal of having 1 million electric cars on
the road by 2015 and the Energy Department is trying to make sure a
large share of them are powered by U.S.-made batteries. In addition to
the $2 billion in grants it is expected to announce soon, the Energy
Department can also lend from a separate $25 billion program. It has
already announced a $1.6 billion loan to help Nissan develop an
electric car, including the construction of a new battery plant, and a
$465 million loan for Tesla Motors, part of which would go to a
battery-pack facility that would stock Tesla and Daimler.

Here's a quick look at some of the companies, big and small, that hope
to benefit.


-- Johnson Controls, the world's largest maker of lead-acid batteries,
is applying with Ford Motor to make lithium-ion batteries at a
Michigan plant that once made automobile interiors. The Wisconsin-
based company says that the project would be up and running within 15
months, creating 4,700 jobs for Michigan, where unemployment has
climbed to 15.2 percent.

"Some people won't lose their jobs and some people who've lost theirs
will get new ones," said Alex Molinaroli, president of power solutions
at Johnson Controls. (The state of Michigan is also offering about
$150 million in tax breaks and grants.)

The company touts its experience. "It's a natural extension of what we
do," Molinaroli said of the battery business. Last year, Johnson
Controls made 112 million conventional car batteries; a joint venture
in France already makes lithium-ion car batteries.


-- Dow Chemical is also vying for Energy Department dollars. It has
asked for $140 million in grants to scale up production of raw
materials for batteries, as well as $550 million to cover about half
the cost of setting up plants to manufacture battery packs in Michigan
and Missouri. A South Korean company, Kokam, would be a partner in the
venture.

Dow says it can make the batteries affordable. "Dow is very
experienced in scaling up and figuring out how to drive costs out" of
production, said George Hamilton, a company vice president.


-- A company called A123 Systems also thinks it deserves federal
support. It has developed a lithium-ion battery using its own
technology, which it says will deliver more power, endure more abuse
and last longer than other batteries. The technology may be used in
cars made by SAIC in China and by Chrysler. General Electric has
invested in the company.

A123 Systems had sought to win the contract to make batteries for
General Motors's Chevy Volt, but GM ultimately opted for lithium-ion
batteries from LG Chem.


-- Quallion is another contestant for government battery grants.
Founded in 1998 by biotechnology and aerospace entrepreneur Alfred E.
Mann and lithium-ion battery specialist Hisashi Tsukamoto, Quallion
has focused on high-priced niche markets such as custom aerospace
uses, medical device implants and battery packs that soldiers can
carry more easily on the battlefield.

"We make 70,000 a year," said Paul Beach, Quallion's senior vice
president; "really nothing" compared to Japanese companies that make
around 70 million batteries a month, he added.

Now Quallion has applied for up to $200 million to build a plant in
Santa Clarita, Calif., that would make batteries for trucks and heavy
vehicles, which could use them to avoid idling at truck stops. The
Environmental Protection Agency says truck idling accounts for 11
million tons of carbon-dioxide emissions and for 960 million gallons
of diesel fuel use.

If Quallion gets the federal grant, state and local governments have
promised to provide financial incentives and land.


-- One of the smaller firms seeking Energy Department grants is run by
Charles Haba, who was part of the team that pioneered semiconductors
at Fairchild Semiconductor and later at Intel. Haba seeks $100 million
in grant money to cover half of the cost for a lithium-ion battery
plant in Los Angeles. The city wants to install 400 megawatts of
energy storage, and lithium-ion batteries can store energy from solar
and wind facilities as they help provide a more continuous supply of
energy from those sources.

Haba says that "a lot of the techniques of the semiconductor industry
were directly applicable" to help make the systems more effective and
to come up with arrays that made it easier to manage the large amount
of heat that the batteries give off. Haba's nine-year-old company,
iCel, has already produced small quantities of batteries for specialty
uses, such as movie-camera battery packs or television lighting.

Haba also hopes to set up a nationwide chain of battery training
centers with the help of the International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers. He said that at the Los Angeles local union, iCel has trained
3,700 people to install the company's batteries.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...072403163.html

"El Perverto" wrote in message
...
-- A company called A123 Systems also thinks it deserves federal
support. It has developed a lithium-ion battery using its own
technology, which it says will deliver more power, endure more abuse
and last longer than other batteries. The technology may be used in
cars made by SAIC in China and by Chrysler. General Electric has
invested in the company.

A123 Systems had sought to win the contract to make batteries for
General Motors's Chevy Volt, but GM ultimately opted for lithium-ion
batteries from LG Chem.

So GM has invested in A123 Systems and LG Chem...doesn't that mean they're
already getting government funding?