WASHINGTON — Want to know why the Obama administration’s announcement of $2.4 billion in electric vehicle grants could be very important? It’s simple: The commitment show that Washington may be getting serious about keeping batteries from becoming the new oil. Right now, overseas manufacturers, primarily in Asia, are the world leaders in the mass production of advanced vehicle batteries. Even US-made hybrids such as the Ford Fusion have a foreign battery at their core. But the White House and many lawmakers in Congress say they don’t want to swap reliance on Saudi oil for reliance on South Korean batteries as part of the nation’s green energy future. Thus the administration has steered $1.5 billion of the $2.4 billion in electric technology development funds to battery manufacturing projects. ‘I don’t want to have to import a hybrid car, said President Obama at an appearance in Warakusa, Ind., Wednesday. ‘I want to build a hybrid car here. If you think the comparison between oil and batteries is overblown, consider that IHS Global Insight predicts that by 2020 some 47 percent of the vehicles sold in the US will have some kind of battery power at their core, either […]
Monday, August 10th, 2009
The Real Reason For Obama’s $2.4 Billion Electric Car Grants
Author: PETER GRIER
Source: The Christian Science Monitor
Publication Date: 5-Aug-09
Link: The Real Reason For Obama’s $2.4 Billion Electric Car Grants
Source: The Christian Science Monitor
Publication Date: 5-Aug-09
Link: The Real Reason For Obama’s $2.4 Billion Electric Car Grants
Stephan: That we need to have nationally produced batteries seems prudently self-protective. The question I had to ask, after reading this report, however, was: 'What will stop multinational corporations like GM from outsourcing the manufacture of batteries, after the American taxpayer/worker has paid the R&D fees, to lower cost offshore companies? I think the unacknowledged trend here is that multinational corporations have become virtual states and are behaving as one would expect. Their loyalty is to themselves and their shareholders, not the national interest. This is what happens when profit is the only consideration.
