All three U.S. carmakers have several irons in the fire, but the President wants a clear plan before further help is offered
Earlier today the President announced 480 new advanced battery and electric drive projects that will received $2.4 billion in U.S. funds under a new act called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The projects were selected through a competitive process and hand picked by the Department of Energy. Each project selected had to submit an application for funds months ago, and patiently await the selection process.
The selected few have shown great strengths in the areas of either battery technology or advanced vehicle technology such as EVs. The act is aimed at accelerating the development of this countries capacity to manufacture batteries and electrical drive components as well as jump starting the deployment of electric vehicles manufacture within our borders.
As President Obama said, "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."
And according to Vice President Biden, "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. That's what we're doing today and that's what this Recovery Act is about."
Even Energy Secretary Chu chimed in saying, "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. They will help achieve the President's goal of putting one million plug-in hybrid vehicles on the road by 2015."
The $2.4 billion included in this act will become the single largest investment that this country has ever made into battery technology for hybrid and electric vehicles.
According to industry analysts, the $2.4 billion from the act combined with an anticipated $2.4 billion additional added in by the companies receiving money will directly result in the creation of tens of thousands of jobs in the U.S.
The breakdown of the awarded money is as follows; $1.5 billion will go to U.S. based battery manufacturers and battery component manufacturers, $500 million will go to U.S. based manufacturers of electric drive components, and $400 million will go towards purchasing thousand of plug-ins and hybrids for use as demonstration vehicles throughout the country.
Some of the notable companies receiving funds through the act include Johnson Controls, A123 Systems, EnerDel, LG, GM, Ford, and Chrysler to name a few.
The full list of recipients can be found at the link listed below.
Source: Department of Energy
