U.S. battery power stimulus money matched

U.S. EV Battery Stimulus accelerates lithium-ion manufacturing, hybrid and electric car jobs and investment, boosting Chevrolet Volt and Ford Focus BEV production in Holland, Michigan, with Energy Department grants matched by LG's Compact Power.

U.S. stimulus money for advanced battery and electric vehicle grants has been matched at least dollar for dollar, the U.S. Department of Energy said.

The economic stimulus money, intended to create jobs and promote investment and consumer spending during the recession, is also projected to increase U.S. battery production for hybrid and electric cars to 40 percent by 2015 from 2 percent this year, the department said.

The announcement came on the eve of U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Holland, Mich., for the groundbreaking of a Compact Power Inc. factory tied to GM's Volt battery plant investment efforts.

The company, a subsidiary of South Korean conglomerate LG Corp., received $151 million in federal stimulus money through car battery grants last year to open the plant, which will make lithium-ion cells for plug-in hybrids and employ a projected 450 people by 2013.

The stimulus money was matched more than dollar-for-dollar by the company, the Energy Department said.

Compact Power lithium-ion batteries will be used in the Chevrolet Volt plug-in, and will start selling in select U.S. markets in November.

Compact Power batteries will also be used in new electric versions of the Ford Focus - to be known as the Ford Focus BEV - which Ford Motor Co. plans to bring to market next year.

The Volt battery is designed to run an average 40 miles on a charge as part of GM's plug-in goal strategy. The Focus battery is designed to run 100 miles.

Hundred-mile electric-car batteries costing $33,000 now could drop to $16,000 by 2013 and to $10,000 by 2015, due to the economic-stimulus money, the energy department said.

Forty-mile batteries costing $13,000 now are projected to fall to $6,700 by 2013 and to $4,000 by 2015, the department said.

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