About the DOE Stimulus for EDVs Stimulus Funding:
US Department of Energy (DOE)

Electric Drive Vehicle (EDV) Battery and Component Manufacturing Initiative
(DE-FOA-0000026)

In February 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) into law.  ARRA, formerly known as the “stimulus bill”, included up to $2 billion in federal grant funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to support the creation of American jobs while promoting the development of US-based advanced battery production for the electric drive vehicle (EDV) market.

The DOE issued a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) titled Electric Drive Vehicle (EDV) Battery and Component Manufacturing Initiative (DE-FOA-0000026) for the $2 billion in federal grants specified under ARRA on March 19, 2009.

These grants will support the construction (including production capacity increase of current plants) of U.S. based manufacturing plants to produce batteries and electric drive components.  The battery manufacturing area is focused on battery manufacturing plants, material and component supplier manufacturing plants, and recycling plants for lithium-ion and other advanced batteries for electric drive vehicles (EDVs).

Celgard submitted an application in mid-May 2009 for grant funding under the DOE FOA. Celgard is seeking federal funds through this grant initiative to increase its lithium-ion battery separator production capacity in the United States.

Celgard has been the recipient of three U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) contracts for lithium-ion battery manufacturing, including one contract for $2.3 million issued in collaboration with the DOE to develop lithium-ion battery separator technology for hybrid-electric (HEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) applications.

The DOE is expected to announce the recipients selected for negotiation of a grant award under the Electric Drive Vehicle (EDV) Battery and Component Manufacturing Initiative by August 2009.