US President Barack Obama has announced 48 new advanced battery and electric drive projects that will receive $2.4bn in funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
These projects, selected by the Department of Energy, will accelerate the development of US manufacturing capacity for batteries and electric drive components as well as the deployment of electric drive vehicles.
‘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,’ said President Obama.
‘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,’ added Vice President Biden. ‘That’s what we’re doing today and that’s what this Recovery Act is about.’
The announcement marks the single largest investment in advanced battery technology for hybrid and electric-drive vehicles ever made. Industry officials expect that this $2.4bn investment, coupled with another $2.4bn in cost share from the award winners, will result directly in the creation tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs in the US battery and auto industries.
‘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,’ said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. ‘They will help achieve the president’s goal of putting one million plug-in hybrid vehicles on the road by 2015. And, most importantly, they will launch an advanced battery industry in America and make our auto industry cleaner and more competitive.’
The new awards include $1.5bn in grants to US-based manufacturers to produce batteries and their components and to expand battery recycling capacity, $500m in grants to United States-based manufacturers to produce electric drive components for vehicles, including electric motors, power electronics, and other drive train components, $400m in grants to purchase thousands of plug-in hybrid and all-electric vehicles for test demonstrations.
See the full list of award winners here.
US Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced that the Department of Energy will provide up to $30bn in loan guarantees for renewable energy projects.
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