The U.S. Department of Energy released a new report on the economic impact of Recovery Act investments in advanced batteries and vehicles.
The report, "Recovery Act Investments: Transforming America’s Transportation Sector," documents how Recovery Act funds are being matched with private capital to create cleantech jobs, construct new plants, add new manufacturing lines, install electric vehicle charging stations across the country and help build the emerging domestic electric vehicle industry from the ground up.
Among the key highlights of the report:
- For every dollar of the $2.4 billion in seed money the government provided through the Recovery Act advanced battery and electric vehicle grants, the companies have matched it at minimum dollar for dollar.
- Pre-Recovery Act, the U.S. produced just 2% of the world’s batteries for advanced vehicles, but due to Recovery Act investments, the U.S. will have the capacity to produce 20% of these batteries by 2012 and up to 40% by 2015–that’s a jump from 2% to 40% in a span of just five years.
- Each of the nine new battery plants opening as a result of Recovery Act investments will have started construction, and four of those will be operational by the end of the year. In addition, twenty-one other plants will make battery or electric vehicle components with the help of Recovery Act grants.
- Before the Recovery Act, high battery costs meant a car with a 100 mile range would need a battery that cost $33,000. But because of the higher-volume domestic manufacturing the Recovery Act is spurring, the cost of such a battery could come down to $16,000 by the end of 2013 and $10,000 by the end of 2015, dramatically driving down the cost of an electric vehicle and greatly expanding the domestic market.
- Before the Recovery Act, there were less than 500 electric vehicle charging locations in the U.S., but as a result of Recovery Act investments, there will be over 20,000 by 2012.
- Before the Recovery Act, there were no domestic factories doing high-volume manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles, but due to Recovery Act investments, the U.S. will have the capacity to produce up to 40% of the world’s batteries by 2015.
President Obama is in Holland, Minnesota today for the groundbreaking of the Compact Power battery plant.
The $151 million Recovery Act grant awarded to Compact Power last August has been matched more than dollar-for-dollar by the company. The plant in Holland will manufacture batteries to support 52,000 Chevy Volts a year and will also supply batteries for the new electric Ford Focus.
The full report is available at the link below.
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