A boost for Lithium,
MMTE looking better:
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Obama Visiting New Lithium Battery plant in Minnesota Thursday!!!
talk about he right timing for MMTE!!
WoW!!!!
this is for the chevy volt
Obama will visit Holland battery plant Thursday | freep.com | Detroit Free Press
Obama will visit Holland battery plant Thursday
By TODD SPANGLER AND JEWEL GOPWANI
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
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Buzz up!WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama will be in west Michigan next week for a ceremony at a Holland battery plant that could someday employ as many as 400 people.
An administration official confirmed today that Obama will visit the LG Chem-Compact Power factory next Thursday. The visit was revealed on "PBS Newshour" with Jim Lehrer on Thursday, with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel saying Obama “will be in Michigan for one of the final factories that are going – literally going up to produce alternative batteries.”
Holland Mayor Kurt Dykstra also said the president will be visiting
“It will be a tremendous, tremendous day in Holland, Michigan,” Dykstra said.
Dykstra said the economy has been rough on Holland, where the unemployment rate is about 15%, higher than the state’s May unemployment rate of 13.6%.
“We are, like much of Michigan, we are very manufacturing heavy specifically in the automotive and office furniture areas. Those two industries have taken their share of beatings,” Dykstra said.
But new projects including the two battery plants offer the promise of thousands of jobs, he said.
South Korea-based LG Chem is building the $300-million, 650,000-square-foot battery plant in Holland that is set to start operating in 2012. LG Chem and its Troy-based subsidiary Compact Power are behind the battery system to power the Chevrolet Volt, the nation's first mass-market extended range plug-in electric vehicle, which will launch later this year.
LG Chem has received $151.4 million in grants from the Department of Energy for its Holland plant.
The factory, which will be able to make 15 million to 20 million battery cells a year, is one of at least five battery plants built in Michigan. Johnson Controls, through its joint venture with French battery company Saft, also is converting one of its existing factories in Holland into a lithium-ion battery plant.
No details were immediately released about the timing of the event and whether it will be open to the public.
The government has distributed more than $2 billion in grant money to advanced battery manufacturing to create a base for high-tech battery making in the United States.
Today, most of the world’s advanced batteries come from Korea, Japan and China.
Last month, the groundbreaking of Dow Kokam’s advanced battery plant in Midland attracted Vice President Joe Biden.
Contact TODD SPANGLER:
tspangler@freepress.com.
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