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;
According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Ener1 had been counting on the market for electric cars to grow quickly, creating enough demand to sell its batteries alongside ones from Asia. "The demand for EVs, however, did not develop as quickly as anticipated," the company's filing says.
...Nine companies received grants to build advanced-battery factories from the U.S. government as part of the 2009 Recovery Act. A 10th factory, proposed by a joint venture between Nissan and NEC, is being built with the help of a $1.4 billion federal loan guarantee.
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