US Energy Department awards $2.4bn in auto battery grants for 48 projects

Things are moving now after the six-month, no-work slurs that President Obama has been constantly getting. The Department of Energy announced which U.S. companies have been awarded grants amounting $2.4 billion to build manufacturing plants for electric vehicle batteries. It will include categories such as related technology, federal agencies to purchase fleet plug-in electric vehicles as well as to develop the infrastructure needed for plug-in electric vehicles, such as charging stations and training for technicians in electric vehicles. In total, there will be 48 funded projects, with many–18 out of the total–located in the traditional auto manufacturing states of Michigan and Indiana.

This program was initiated to help jump-start the U.S. industry for auto batteries, which is now dominated by Asian suppliers. The Obama administration has set a goal of putting 1 million plug-in electric vehicles on the road by 2015.
[Cnet]