"A123 gets $249m in stimulus funding; Watertown-based battery maker plans to build Mich. factory" by Sean Sposito, Globe Correspondent | August 6, 2009
Watertown lithium-ion battery maker A123Systems yesterday was awarded $249 million in federal stimulus funds, which the company said will go to build factories to manufacture high-tech lithium-ion batteries. A123 previously received $100 million in economic incentives from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to build a factory in Livonia, Mich., and that will be the first facility built with the federal money, the company said.
The money was included in $2.4 billion in grants announced yesterday by the Obama administration, with $1.5 billion of the total going to the battery industry. Among the other recipients were Ford Motor Co., Chrysler Group LLC, and General Motors Corp., which will share more than $600 million meant to encourage development of battery technology for cars.
Not included among the grant recipients was another Massachusetts battery maker, Boston-Power Inc., of Westborough, which was vying for at least $100 million in federal and state grants to finance a factory in Auburn.
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Boston-Power, which operates two factories in Asia and produces batteries for computer maker Hewlett-Packard Co., wants the new factory to make batteries for laptops, cars, and military uses.
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Boston-Power chief executive Christina Lampe-Önnerud said the company would have created roughly 600 jobs in Massachusetts if it had received the federal grants. “I must admit I’m rather disappointed,’’ she said....
