Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

US Corps Want $1B From Gov't For Battery Factory

Posted by timothy on from the when-you-really-truly-need-some-free-tax-money dept.

tristanreid writes "The Wall Street Journal reports that a consortium of 14 US technology companies will ask the Federal Government for up to $1 billion for a plant to make advanced battery technology, as a part of the broad fiscal stimulus package that Pres. Elect Obama is planning. The story quotes a report by Ralph Brodd, which suggests that while existing battery technology was developed in the US, the lead in development is now held in Asia. From the WSJ story: 'More than four dozen advanced battery factories are being built in China but none, currently, in the US.'"

4 of 394 comments (clear)

  1. Why play catch up? by critical_point · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Instead we should invest that $1B into researching fundamentally new battery technologies.

    Hopefully Obama realizes how many theoretical research salaries can be paid with $1B and chooses to spend the money on this kind of long-term project.

  2. Battery development on my tax money?? by Eggplant62 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Um, say gents, you can feel free to pool your resources on your own to develop new battery technology. However, there's no need for the government to pony up my tax dollars on this endeavour, especially considering how eager you folks are to outsource jobs overseas left and right, mm-kay?

  3. Re:I can't support this use of tax dollars by lysergic.acid · · Score: 5, Insightful

    i say give it to them. it's a wise investment.

    that is, of course, so long as:

    • any battery technology developed is released into the public domain. (if you want public funding, you need to make your research results public as well.)
    • there are government price controls to ensure the public isn't getting reamed on products they're subsidizing. and every 2-3 years the government and industry representatives get together to renegotiate the prices. (this is similar to how health care is run in Japan as a hybrid between privatized and socialized medicine.)
    • small companies/start-ups also have access to the plant, and it's not just a handful of major corporations that are benefiting from this federal aid.

    we need improved/cheaper battery technology to boost the development & adoption of electric vehicles.

  4. Re:I can't support this use of tax dollars by russotto · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Easily solved.... the CEOs, boardmembers, stakeholders and major profit earners of these companies have to live adjacent to the factory. On a daily basis they have to 1) drink a nice 64 oz. glass of any waste water that may exist, 2) they have to sit for an hour in a room fill with any exhaust gases, and 3) any solid waste is ground up and sprinkled over their food.

    You can bet that any byproducts will be clean or the guilty parties will receive their just rewards.

    And that nothing will ever be made, ever again.