8/8/12, "Latest Chinese Target: Batteries," Wall St. Journal, Mike Ramsey
"A company that two years ago was one of the most promising U.S. innovators in the clean-fuel auto industry was rescued from collapse Wednesday. Its buyer: A Chinese auto-parts company.
Wanxiang Group Corp., one of China's biggest parts makers, offered a $450 million lifeline to A123 Systems Inc. a maker of advanced batteries for electric vehicles that received U.S.-government backing. The deal would put the firm's lithium-ion technology and its U.S.-funded manufacturing plant into the hands of a company that has slowly acquired a passel of auto assets across the Midwest.
Wanxiang's investment, part of a move into clean energy" ...(subscription), via Free Republic
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Following is the excerpt posted at Free Republic. The wording is different than that of the excerpt above, ie a less benign point of view:
8/8/12, "China Firm to Buy Control of U.S.-Backed Battery Maker," WSJ, Mike Ramsey
"A123 Systems Inc., a struggling, U.S. government-backed manufacturer of advanced batteries for electric vehicles, is turning to one of China's largest auto parts makers for a bailout.
A123 was the first company to open a factory in the U.S. using funds from an Obama administration program to encourage domestic production of advanced batteries. The Wanxiang investment may allow the A123 to move forward with plans to build a second facility and draw the remainder of a $249 million Energy Department grant.
The company, partially owned by General Electric Co., likely would keep its U.S. headquarters and operations while giving the parts company access to battery technology and the chance to expand in China where the government has made electric-vehicle adoption a priority, A123 said.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ..."
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Ed. note: Electric car batteries weigh 600-700 pounds each. Rare earths minerals are essential to the manufacture of electric car batteries, wind turbine generators, and advanced solar panels. The US has opted not to mine its own supply of rare earths, instead demanding Communist China inflict environmental damage on itself for the privilege of selling rare earths to the US:
3/15/12, "Rare earth case reveals US hypocrisy," China Daily, Chen Weihua, by Deputy Editor of China Daily
"US President Barack Obama announced...that the United States, joined by Japan and the European Union, has filed complaints with the World Trade Organization over China's rare earth export quotas.
His words, however, imply that he does not really care about the environmental degradation caused by China's disorderly and excessive mining of rare earth materials, as long as US workers and businesses can profit from China's cheap supply.
This is shocking for a president who likes to portray himself as pro-environment when he fights Republican presidential candidates over clean energy issues, or when he tried to restore the US' leadership role at the UN Climate Change Conference, in Copenhagen, in December 2009....
According to the US Geological Survey, there are about 13 million metric tons of rare earth deposits in the US. Instead of buying from China, Obama should propose tapping the US' own deposits. Such a move would not only enable the US to share the responsibility for the supply of rare earth materials, it would also create jobs for Americans, the single most powerful weapon Obama needs to beat a Republican."...
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"Rare Earth Metals," UCLA Institute of Environment and Sustainability
US environmental rules and wages make it too expensive to extract rare earths here. We opted out of the "race" for green jobs. Most rare earths come from Communist China now. Rare earth smelting plant in Communist China (below, reuters, 11/21/10)
12/29/10, "China will cut rare earths export quotas," BBC
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6/10/11, "Electric cars may not be so green after all, says British study," The Australian, Ben Webster
"ELECTRIC cars could produce higher emissions over their lifetimes than petrol equivalents because of the energy consumed in making their batteries, a study has found. An electric car owner would have to drive at least 129,000km before producing a net saving in CO2. Many electric cars will not travel that far in their lifetime."...
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- Rare earths mine in Communist China from DailyMailOnline, Jan. 10, 2010
An all-electric car battery weighs 600-700 pounds:
4/17/12, "Ford CEO: Battery Is Third of Electric Car Cost," WSJ.com, by Mike Ramsey
"One of the auto industry's most closely guarded secrets—the enormous cost of batteries for electric cars—has spilled out.
Speaking at a forum on green technology on Monday, Ford Motor Co. F -1.01% Chief Executive Alan Mulally indicated battery packs for the company's Focus electric car costs between $12,000 and $15,000 apiece.
"When you move into an all-electric vehicle, the battery size moves up to around 23 kilowatt hours, [and] it weighs around 600 to 700 pounds," Mr. Mulally said at Fortune magazine's Brainstorm Green conference in California.
"They're around $12,000 to $15,000 [a battery]" for a type of car that normally sells for about $22,000, he continued, referring to the price of a gasoline-powered Focus. "So, you can see why the economics are what they are.""
===================================8/8/12, "China's Wanxiang to take control of battery maker A123," Reuters
In 2009, "it (A123) was awarded a grant under the Obama administration's $2.4 billion Electric Drive Battery and Component Manufacturing Initiative."...
The Chinese company has "a U.S. subsidiary based outside Chicago."...
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Ed. note: There was no chance this company could succeed in the US, ie it wasn't even a gamble. Just a cash transfer. Further, Communist China has no EPA, few regulations, no real way of enforcing them, and no one in power who has to care no matter what PR they put out.
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