Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Tough Times for U.S. EV Battery Makers
http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/39578/?p1=A3[font face=Times, Serif][font size=5]Tough Times for U.S. EV Battery Makers[/font]
[font size=4]Companies need more consumer demand for electric vehicles to grow rapidly.[/font]
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
By Kevin Bullis
[font size=3]The U.S. government's effort to create an electric-vehicle battery industry suffered a setback last week when one of the companies it funded as part of this effort saw its parent company file for bankruptcy protection. Battery maker Enerdel had been awarded a $118.5 million grant to build a lithium-ion battery factory in Indiana as part of a $2 billion grant program for electric-vehicle component and battery manufacturing; its parent company is Ener1.
Ener1 hopes to emerge from bankruptcy, and says Enerdel will continue operations during bankruptcy proceedings. Yet its difficulties point to the challenges of creating a new industry: at least for now, there are too many companies chasing too few contracts for making electric- and hybrid-vehicle batteries.
Demand is expected to grow over the next few years as government regulations and incentives push automakers to roll out more battery-powered cars, and as technical and manufacturing advances make batteries cheaper. But for now, U.S. battery makers are competing in a tight market. Those that win key contracts—or that have large amounts of funding—will likely survive the next few years, while others could collapse.
Ener1's troubles are the result of a heavy reliance on a single major customer, the electric-car company Think. Last summer, Think itself failed after poor sales of its expensive two-seater car, in the face of stiff competition from GM's Volt and Nissan's Leaf, which are both cheaper and more practical vehicles.
…[/font][/font]
[font size=4]Companies need more consumer demand for electric vehicles to grow rapidly.[/font]
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
By Kevin Bullis
[font size=3]The U.S. government's effort to create an electric-vehicle battery industry suffered a setback last week when one of the companies it funded as part of this effort saw its parent company file for bankruptcy protection. Battery maker Enerdel had been awarded a $118.5 million grant to build a lithium-ion battery factory in Indiana as part of a $2 billion grant program for electric-vehicle component and battery manufacturing; its parent company is Ener1.
Ener1 hopes to emerge from bankruptcy, and says Enerdel will continue operations during bankruptcy proceedings. Yet its difficulties point to the challenges of creating a new industry: at least for now, there are too many companies chasing too few contracts for making electric- and hybrid-vehicle batteries.
Demand is expected to grow over the next few years as government regulations and incentives push automakers to roll out more battery-powered cars, and as technical and manufacturing advances make batteries cheaper. But for now, U.S. battery makers are competing in a tight market. Those that win key contracts—or that have large amounts of funding—will likely survive the next few years, while others could collapse.
Ener1's troubles are the result of a heavy reliance on a single major customer, the electric-car company Think. Last summer, Think itself failed after poor sales of its expensive two-seater car, in the face of stiff competition from GM's Volt and Nissan's Leaf, which are both cheaper and more practical vehicles.
…[/font][/font]