US Grants $2.4 Billion to Develop Batteries and Electric Vehicles

President Obama announced $2.4 billion in grant money would be used to fund various companies and projects to accelerate the manufacturing and deployment of the next generation of US batteries and electric vehicles.

The Department of Energy selected 48 new advanced battery and electric drive projects (pdf) to receive the funding. Companies like GMC, Johnson Controls, A123 Systems, Enerdel, Saft, etc... will each receive grants. The amount of each grant ranges from $0.5 million to the City College of San Francisco to develop Educational Programs for secondary students, Service Personnel, and Technicians all the way up to $299.2 million for the production of nickel-cobalt-metal battery cells and packs, as well as production of battery separators (by partner Entek) for hybrid and electric vehicles.

"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.

"For our nation and our economy to recover, we must have a vision for what can be built here in the future - and then we need to invest in that vision," said Vice President Biden. "That's what we're doing today and that's what this Recovery Act is about."

“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 Energy Secretary Steven Chu. “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 $2.4 billion in grants is coupled with another $2.4 billion in cost share from the award winners. The government expects the grants will create tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs in the U.S. battery and auto industries.

Other awards include:

* $1.5 billion in grants to U.S. based manufacturers to produce batteries and their components and to expand battery recycling capacity;
* $500 million in grants to U.S. based manufacturers to produce electric drive components for vehicles, including electric motors, power electronics, and other drive train components; and
* $400 million in grants to purchase thousands of plug-in hybrid and all-electric vehicles for test demonstrations in several dozen locations; 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.