President Obama’s ‘Battery Gold Rush’ Draws Massive Interest
$2.4 billion being put up for the taking isn’t something that goes unnoticed. Since the day the Obama administration first announced it would be allocating billions of dollars in stimulus money to go toward advanced battery research and development; there has been no shortage of interest from both companies and states alike seeking to become a player in turning the United States into a “battery-manufacturing powerhouse.” A recent article on the Wall Street Journal noted that at the time of last week’s deadline, the U.S. Department of Energy had received 165 applications from those vying for a piece of that $2.4 billion pie.
“A 2008 study by researchers at Alliance Bernstein forecast the current $9 billion-a-year auto-battery market, based on lead-acid batteries, could reach more than $150 billion by 2030.”
Among those who have put their names in the hat for the grant money are A123 Systems, Johnson Controls Inc., General Electric, General Motors and of course many others. The majority of these battery manufacturers are proposing sites for plants that will make lithium-ion batteries as lithium-ion is largely believed to be the battery chemistry of the future.
With a strong belief that hybrid and all-electric vehicles will eventually replace their gas-powered counterparts, the race to become among the top manufacturers of the batteries that will power these vehicles will likely continue to heat up. With this in mind, states such as Indiana, Michigan, New York, Massachusetts, Kentucky and several others are putting forth concerted efforts to ensure they will play host to the winning corporations.
The Department of Energy is expected to announce the winners as soon as the end of July.
Category: Battery News
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