And another one bites the dust. Soon... President Obama touted it in 2010 as evidence "manufacturing jobs are coming back to the United States,â but two years later, a Michigan hybrid battery plant built with $150 million in taxpayer funds is putting workers on furlough before a single battery has been produced. Workers at the Compact Power manufacturing facilities in Holland, Mich., run by LG Chem, have been placed on rotating furloughs, working only three weeks per month based on lack of demand for lithium-ion cells. The facility, which was opened in July 2010 with a groundbreaking attended by Obama, has yet to produce a single battery for the Chevrolet Volt, the troubled electric car from General Motors. The plant's batteries also were intended to be used in Ford's electric Focus. Production of the taxpayer-subsidized Volt has been plagued by work stoppages, and the effect has trickled down to companies and plants that build parts for it -- including the batteries. âConsidering the lack of demand for electric vehicles, despite billions of dollars from the Obama administration that were supposed to stimulate it, itâs not surprising what has happened with LG Chem. Just because a ton of money is poured into a product does not mean that people will buy it,â Paul Chesser, an associate fellow with the National Legal and Policy Center, told FoxNews.com. The 650,000-square-foot, $300 million facility was slated to produce 15,000 batteries per year, while creating hundreds of new jobs. But to date, only 200 workers are employed at the plant by by the South Korean company. Batteries for the Chevy Volts that have been produced have been made by an LG plant in South Korea. The factory was partly funded by a $150 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/10/0...es-in-michigan-puts-workers-on/#ixzz28l8E0mD1
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Geez. Another $1/4 Billion down the drain. A123 Systems Inc. (AONE), the electric car battery maker that received a $249 million federal grant, filed for bankruptcy protection and said it would sell its assets to Johnson Controls Inc. (JCI) The filing may fuel a debate over government financing of alternative-energy and transportation businesses. Federal grants and loans to companies including A123, Fisker Automotive Inc. and Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA) have drawn scrutiny from congressional Republicans following the September 2011 bankruptcy filing of solar-panel maker Solyndra LLC two years after it received a $535 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Energy Department. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-...a123-systems-files-bankruptcy.html?cmpid=yhoo