WASHINGTON - As President Barack Obama heads to Michigan this week to tout the opening of a $303 million advanced battery plant in Holland, White House officials are fanning across the country to promote other electric vehicle developments, The Detroit News reported.
While Obama is in Michigan on Thursday, Ed Montgomery, executive director of the White House Council on Automotive Communities and Workers, will stop in at a General Motors plant in White Marsh, Md. That facility received a $105 million grant to help the Detroit-based automaker build a second-generation electric drivetrain system.
GM is receiving about $241 million in federal grants, including $106 million for its battery pack assembly factory in Brownstown Township, which is the first such facility in the U.S. operated by a major automaker. The plant is assembling battery packs for the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle, which debuts late this year.
GM is holding an event at the Brownstown Township plant Wednesday to announce a consumer initiative and provide an update on validation and testing of the lithium-ion battery. Executives also will provide details on the start of regular battery-pack production.
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis will visit Charlotte, N.C.-based Celgard on Thursday to promote a $49 million stimulus grant that'll help the battery company hire 100 employees and begin manufacturing. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will visit a company in Richmond, Va., that converts traditional internal combustion engines to run on propane.
On Wednesday, an administration official will join New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to unveil a system of new electric vehicle charging stations. Using a $15 million stimulus grant, Coulomb Technologies plans to add 4,600 such stations in nine U.S. cities by Sept. 2011.
Three additional auto-related announcements will be made by White House officials Friday, including one at Delphi Automotive Systems' plant in Kokomo, Ind. There, Energy Secretary Steven Chu will visit the facility where an $89 million battery manufacturing grant is helping the former GM subsidiary create electric drivetrain components for cars and trucks.
The grants come as the Department of Energy plans to release Thursday a new report on how stimulus funds have helped quickly develop viable battery and electric vehicle manufacturing processes.
Before the grants were awarded last year, it was estimated a 100-mile range battery would cost $33,000, White House officials said. Now, that cost is estimated to lower to $16,000 by the end of 2013, and $10,000 two years after that.
Stimulus funds have also helped spur the development of charging stations, as well, with around 500 expected to grow to more than 20,000 by 2012.
