In February 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which among other things provided $2.4 billion to encourage development of a domestic industry to make lighter, more energy-dense lithium-ion batteries to power electric vehicles.
Two weeks ago, on July 15, the president flew to this small city on the shore of Lake Michigan to attend the groundbreaking for a $303 million, 650,000 square-foot battery plant operated by Compact Power, a subsidiary of LG Chem, a Korean company, and to see other evidence of the stimulus bill’s influence in Michigan. He did not have to travel far.
There are 17 new plants in production, under construction or approaching groundbreaking in Michigan’s nascent vehicle battery sector, according to the state Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth. Two of them, representing an investment of $523 million, are in Holland, a city of 34,000.
The Compact Power plant will produce batteries for the Chevy Volt, a hybrid vehicle assisted by a gas engine that is expected to be priced at $41,000 when it reaches dealers later this year, and for the electric version of the Ford Focus, which has a range of 100 miles and will reach the market next year.
In 2009, Deutsche Bank estimated global sales of electric, hybrid and other alternative-fuel, advanced-technology vehicles could rise by 30 percent this year, to 1.3 million. J. D. Power recently estimated that hybrid and electric vehicles could account for about 1.3 percent of an estimated 67 million in light-vehicle sales worldwide this year. And the D.T.T. Global Manufacturing Industry Group estimates that by 2020, electric vehicles and other “green” cars will represent up to a third of total sales in developed markets and up to 20 percent in urban areas of emerging markets.
Less than two miles east from the 120-acre Compact Power site is a second battery plant. Johnson Controls teamed up with the French battery maker Saft to transform a closed 129,000-square-foot automotive electronics factory into a $220 million, 173,000-square-foot battery plant that employs 35 workers, and could grow to 300 workers within two years.
Just like the Compact Power project, which is expected to open in 2012 and employ 450 workers by 2013, half of cost of the Johnson Controls/Saft plant construction was paid by a grant from the federal stimulus.
In all, 13 battery and related plants have received federal stimulus grants in Michigan. “This is a symbol of where Michigan is going,” Mr. Obama said in Holland. “This is a symbol of where Holland is going. This is a symbol of where America is going.”
