The Obama administration launched a fresh $120-million research project
Friday, aimed at developing cheaper batteries for electric vehicles, a
sector that has faltered despite billions of dollars of prior government
investment.
The Energy Department will dole out the money over five
years to establish a research hub for batteries and energy storage,
backed by five national laboratories, five Midwestern universities and
four private firms.
The four companies joining the project are Dow Chemical Co, Applied Materials Inc, Johnson Controls Inc and Clean Energy Trust.
During
the Obama administration's first term, jump-starting advanced battery
manufacturing was a major national initiative, which saw the Energy
Department plow $2 billion of grants into 29 battery makers to build or
update plants.
But the industry was hobbled by overcapacity, limp
demand for electric vehicles and high-profile bankruptcies, including
the collapse of government-backed battery maker A123.
Still, the
government defended its efforts, saying that despite some failures, most
of its investments were successful and helped double renewable-energy
output from wind and solar.
"Not every company succeeds," Energy Secretary Steven Chu said at a news conference Friday announcing the new project. "Never should the United States say because one company didn't succeed as much as others, we should get out of the game."
Led by
the Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago, the new research hub will
combine several independent research programs into a single coordinated
effort "to push the limits on battery advances," the department said.
Besides
working on batteries for electric vehicles, the project will also
tackle energy storage for the electric grid, officials said.
Many
Republicans have attacked the Obama administration's direct investment
in clean energy companies, arguing that the government should not be in
the business of picking winners and losers in the private sector.
However, government investment in energy research and development still has broad bipartisan support in Congress.
© Thomson Reuters 2012
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