A major portion of CRPT's production is for the ELV market. There is a substantial substantial push in Asia. Glad to see this; validates the raison d'etre and capacity for profits ahead for companies like CRPT which plays in 81 different world markets.
$2.4 Billion in Grants to Make Cars a Bit Greener
By MATTHEW L. WALD
Published: August 5, 2009
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration announced plans on Tuesday to distribute $2.4 billion in grants for battery manufacturing, mostly for electric vehicles.
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President Obama on Stimulus Efforts
The money, which in most cases will be matched by a like amount from the recipient, was liberally sprinkled in the hard-hit auto manufacturing belt. Some of the money is for factories to make battery chemicals; some for plants that make battery components or assemble cells into packs.
President Obama was in Elkhart, Ind., for example, to give a $39 million grant to Navistar International, a truck manufacturer. And he sent Vice President Biden, the secretaries of Energy and Commerce, the deputy secretary of Transportation and head of the Environmental Protection Agency to other cities to make similar announcements.
The Volt, the plug-in hybrid by General Motors, dominated the grants.
G.M. received $105.9 million for the production of battery packs for the car, which is planned for next year and is supposed to go the first 40 miles each day on electricity and the rest on gasoline. G.M. will make the packs in Brownstown, Mich.
Compact Power, an affiliate of LG Chemical received $151.4 million, one of the largest grants, for production of cells for the Volt. It will do that work in St. Clair, Pontiac and Holland, Mich.
In addition, G.M. got $30.5 million to build 125 Volts for electric utilities and 500 more for other consumers to use as a test fleet.
And it received $105 million for construction of factories to produce a second generation of electric vehicles, with rear-wheel drive, in White Marsh, Maryland, and Wixom, Mich. (The Volt is front-wheel drive.)
A cross-town rival, the Ford Motor Company, got $30 million to partner with 15 electric utilities and deploy up to 150 plug-in hybrid vehicles, including the Escape, its small sport utility vehicle, and the E450, heavy-duty vans derived from the old Econoline series.
Chrysler got $70 million to develop and deploy 220 plug-in hybrid pickups and minivans. Since the auto bailout, the federal government owns 61 percent of G.M. and 8 percent of Chrysler.
Greg Martin, a spokesman for G.M., said the reason that the company did so well in the grants was that it was ahead of its American competitors in developing a plug-in hybrid.
“It’s really captured the imagination of the country and the consumer,” Mr. Martin said. “Here you have the administration sending a clear signal, that battery powered vehicles, extended range and pure electric, are important.”
“If we’re not going to take the leadership in this, other countries will,” he said.
In fact, foreign manufacturers with plants in the United States also got a slice. A partner of Nissan, Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation, which is based in Phoenix, got $99.8 million to demonstrate up to 5,000 all-electric vehicles.
Not all the money was for batteries. A small Oregon company, Cascade Sierra Solutions, got $22.2 million to install electric outlets in truck stops, and to help modify 5,450 trucks, so that when drivers park, the cabs can be heated or cooled, according to the season, without idling their diesel engines. Colleges and universities got money for research or for training mechanics. |
