Some actual GOOD news about the U.S. auto industry

I'm not up to posting a lot of commentary on it, but I didn't want to let the day pass without noting this positive development, from an Energy Party point of view:

Fourteen U.S. technology companies are joining forces and seeking $1
billion in federal aid to build a plant to make advanced batteries for
electric cars, in a bid to catch up to Asian rivals that are far ahead
of the U.S.

The effort, the latest pitch from corporate America to inject
federal dollars into a project, is similar to an alliance that two
decades ago helped the U.S. computer-chip industry restore its
competitiveness. Participants include 3M Corp. and Johnson Controls Inc.

Many experts believe battery technology and manufacturing capacity
could become as strategically important as oil is today. Auto makers,
including General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor
Co., say they plan to roll out plug-in electric cars by 2010. But the
U.S. has limited capacity to make the lithium-ion batteries those cars
will need. Asian producers such as Panasonic Corp. dominate the car-battery field.

About time we got off our duffs on this. That could be a decent thing to spend federal dollars on, rather than more of the same

6 thoughts on “Some actual GOOD news about the U.S. auto industry

  1. slugger

    You forgot the top news story of the day.
    General Motors admits that they work for the United Auto Workers Union. They also announced that the UAW, who owns a golf course at Black Mountain Lakes in Michigan, is going to let the CEO’s of GM play at their golf course with a 30 percent discount.

  2. jfx

    That is great news. And we may, within a few years, see a convergence, where the personal transport vehicles we buy carry “Intel Inside” stickers, and have names like iCar.
    I want a new GM: Google Motors.

  3. slugger

    Why would the people of the United States of America question those that are elected to represent them appoint to commissions and agencies to protect us against fraud? Good question.
    The very people that have allowed the unwary individuals to become victims of fraud need to know from our government what caused the failure of the protection that allowed the people to be robbed of their life savings.
    I would venture to say that this country is consumed with greed and our government has no way to protect the people from those that would rob the innocent.
    If we, the people, cannot depend on our government (elected officials) to protect us against those that will destroy our way of life, we are in desperate straits. The people depend on their government to protect them from those that would use them for self gain. Seems like that is a thing of the past. Every man for himself. Who can the people depend upon to protect them from those that would use them for self gain?

  4. Lee Muller

    These delusional efforts to build “green cars” is like painting the Titanic a different color to stop it from sinking.
    The ONLY solution is an IMMEDIATE end to the pension fund payments and cutting the wages and benefits of current workers in HALF, and and end to the 95% pay for layoff.

  5. Karen McLeod

    Ah, but China is already producing a plug in car for less than the projected per car cost of the still in the planning stage American plug in car.

  6. Lee Muller

    Honda and Toyota cannot give away their hybrid cars in America, and have dropped most models altogether.
    Who wants a Chinese toy, much less their cars?
    Besides, with Obama threatening to “bankrupt the coal industry” and block all nuclear power, there won’t be any affordable electricity to charge up those electric cars.

Comments are closed.