A123Systems to Spend $2.3B Building Factories in Michigan

New York Times (1/7, Garthwaite) – Battery developer A123Systems plans to build a manufacturing plant in Michigan with $1.84 billion in direct loans from the U.S. Department of Energy. The Massachusetts-based startup said today it expects to spend a total of $2.3 billion on several factories in the state, supplying Detroit automakers with enough lithium-ion batteries for 500,000 plug-ins or 5 million hybrid vehicles by 2013. With that timeline, A123 could be one of the first companies to take advantage of the $335 million in tax credits for battery manufacturers approved by Michigan lawmakers late last month.