Johnson Controls Inc. snared the biggest piece of the stimulus pie divvied up by the Obama administration on Wednesday, when the Glendale company secured a $299 million grant to build lithium-ion batteries for hybrid vehicles at a Michigan factory.
Vice President Joe Biden announced that Michigan would get $1 billion in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help set up a domestic manufacturing base for next-generation batteries - considered to be the key to making plug-in electric vehicles a reality. Johnson Controls received the largest single grant of 48 that were announced Wednesday, which "underscores the company's leadership position" in the race to develop advanced batteries for cars and trucks, industry analyst David Leiker said.
A portion of the funding could come to Wisconsin, where Johnson Controls and its joint venture partners, the French battery company Saft, have the headquarters and research-and-development activities for lithium-ion batteries, said Kim Metcalf-Kupres, vice president of sales and marketing for the power solutions business.
Nationwide, the Department of Energy is steering $2.4 billion toward advanced batteries, which are considered a linchpin for helping reduce the nation's dependence on imported oil and improving fuel economy of vehicles to address rising emissions of greenhouse gases. The announcement also marks a boost for the auto industry during the worst recession in generations and a bid by the U.S. government to help the auto industry catch up to China, Japan and other countries that have taken the lead in developing cars and trucks that run on electricity.
http://www.jsonline.com/business/52561282.htmlNice to see something concrete from the stimulus that will hopefully create new jobs. :thumbsup:
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