page 2; GM: repaid $23.1 billion of the $49.5 billion it got from the U.S. Treasury, including all of its outstanding loans. But Treasury still owns 500 million shares, or 32%, of GM stock. To recoup its full investment, GM stock needs to hit $52.80 per share. It’s currently trading around $21. GM also received a $106 million matching grant to build a battery factory in Brownstown, MI, where it is assembling battery packs for the Chevrolet Volt plug-in car using cells imported from Korea. Chrysler: repaid $9.2 billion, fulfilling its debt obligations to the U.S. and Canadian governments, and is now owned by Italian automaker Fiat (58.5%) and a health care trust for UAW retirees (41.5%). Overall, taxpayers lost $1.3 billion on the Chrysler bailout. In full recovery mode, Chrysler is currently the fastest-growing carmaker in the world. Ford: used its $5.9 billion loan to convert two truck plants to small-car production and to develop more fuel-efficient vehicles like the Ford Focus EV and C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid, on sale this fall. Loan repayments start in September. Ford says it will spend $14 billion over the next seven years on advanced-technology vehicles. Leadership, Not Another Bailout, Will Fix GM (And No, It Is Not Going Bankrupt) Joann MullerJoann Muller Forbes Staff Why Are U.S. Taxpayers Still Footing The Bill To Fix A German Automaker? Joann MullerJoann Muller Forbes Staff Ford Is Worried, As It Should Be Joann MullerJoann Muller Forbes Staff Chrysler Is Winning Once Again With Grit, Savvy And Charisma Dale BussDale Buss Contributor Nissan: received a $1.4 billion loan to build a battery plant and modify an existing car factory in Tennessee to produce the electric Nissan Leaf (currently imported from Japan). Production of battery packs begins at the end of September; Leaf production follows in December. Though it has sold only 14,000 Leafs in the U.S. since December 2010, the company hasn’t backed off its U.S. sales target of 150,000 Leafs per year. A spokesman says Nissan will start repaying its loan after U.S. production begins. Tesla: used its $465 million loan to build a battery plant and retool part of a former Toyota-GM factory to build the Model S, its second electric car. So far, only 100 of the cars have been built, well shy of its 2012 goal of 5,000. But the company says it’s on track. Loan repayments start in December. Tesla, which went public in July 2010, hopes to break even by 2013. Fisker: received only $193 million of its $529 million DOE loan because of missed milestones. Its first plug-in hybrid, the $100,000 Karma built in Finland, suffered quality problems. Its next model, the Nina, and a new factory in Delaware, are on hold while the company sorts out its problems and seeks alternative funding sources. Vehicle Production Group: used a $50 million DOE loan to add a compressed natural gas version of its MV-1 handicapped accessible van. So far, 300 of the 2,100 vans produced at a plant in Indiana run on CNG. As fleet sales rise, the start-up company expects at least half to be natural gas vehicles. VPG began repaying its loan late last year. Johnson Controls: the leading lead-acid battery maker for autos used a $300 million DOE grant to build an advanced-battery cell plant in Michigan, and is shifting work here from Europe. It predicted slow acceptance of EVs, and is instead supplying batteries for other fuel-saving technologies, like microhybrids, which shut down when the vehicle stops. The plan was for 680 jobs at full capacity. Today, it has fewer than 100. A123 Systems: drew $129 million of a $249 million DOE grant to build two battery plants in Michigan. But demand didn’t materialize, resulting in unused capacity. Meanwhile, A123 is replacing early batteries that had quality issues. Its resulting financial distress attracted China’s Wangxiang Group, which agreed to invest up to $450 million for an 80 percent stake in the company. A123, which employs 1200 people in the U.S., says it will continue to manufacture batteries in America, focusing on other markets like grid storage and hybrid buses and trucks. Dow Kokam: the joint venture between Dow Chemical, a Korean battery maker and a French engineering company used its $161 million DOE grant to build an advanced-battery factory in Michigan. It started production in June, with 120 employees. With EV demand slower than expected, it is targeting other customers like delivery fleets, the Defense Department and tug boat operators. LG Power: U.S. subsidiary of Korean battery maker used its $151 million DOE grant to build a battery plant in Michigan to supply cells for the Chevrolet Volt and others. But with demand lower than expected, the plant, which has 200 employees, hasn’t yet started production. EnerDel: drew $55 million of its $118 million DOE grant to expand battery production in Indiana. An investment in Think, a Norwegian EV customer, turned sour, and EnerDel’s publicly traded parent, Ener1, filed for bankruptcy in January. Co-founder Boris Zingarevich, a Russian timber tycoon with ties to the Russian government, took control by investing another $86 million. That set off alarm bells in Washington because EnerDel’s batteries are used in some military applications. After exiting bankruptcy in March, EnerDel installed new management and moved its headquarters to Indiana. It currently supplies battery packs for the Volvo C30 electric car but is shifting its focus to making batteries for mass transit, grid storage and industrial uses.
Posted on: Thu, 22 Aug 2013 16:28:57 +0000
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