Three companies with SC ties receive stimulus grant funds
August 6, 2009
President Obama announced 48 new advanced battery and electric drive projects that will receive $2.4 billion in funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Three awards were to companies with either headquarters or facilities in South Carolina.
- Toda America, Inc. based in Goose Creek, will receive $35 million for the production of nickel-cobalt-metal cathode material for lithium-ion batteries.
- KEMET Corporation, based in Simpsonville, will receive $15.1 million for the production of DC bus capacitors including soft wound film and stacked film capacitors necessary for electric drive system power electronics. The South Carolina Energy Office wrote a letter of support on KEMET’s behalf.
- Celgard, which is based in Charlotte but has a manufacturing facility in Aiken, received $49.2 million for the production of polymer separator material for lithium-ion batteries.
These projects, selected through a highly competitive process by the Department of Energy, will accelerate the development of U.S. manufacturing capacity for batteries and electric drive components as well as the deployment of electric drive vehicles, helping to establish American leadership in creating the next generation of advanced vehicles.
"If we want to reduce our dependence on oil, put Americans back to work and reassert our manufacturing sector as one of the greatest in the world, we must produce the advanced, efficient vehicles of the future," said President Obama.
"For our nation and our economy to recover, we must have a vision for what can be built here in the future—and then we need to invest in that vision," said Vice President Biden. "That's what we're doing today and that's what this Recovery Act is about."
"These are incredibly effective investments that will come back to us many times over—by creating jobs, reducing our dependence on foreign oil, cleaning up the air we breathe, and combating climate change," said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. "They will help achieve the president's goal of putting one million plug-in hybrid vehicles on the road by 2015. And, most importantly, they will launch an advanced battery industry in America and make our auto industry cleaner and more competitive."
The announcement marks the single largest investment in advanced battery technology for hybrid and electric-drive vehicles ever made. Industry officials expect that this $2.4 billion investment, coupled with another $2.4 billion in cost share from the award winners, will result directly in the creation tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs in the U.S. battery and auto industries.
