Plant that got $150M in taxpayer money to make Volt batteries furloughs workers

President Obama touted it in 2010 as evidence "manufacturing jobs are coming back to the United States,” but two years later, a Michigan hybrid battery plant built with $150 million in taxpayer funds is putting workers on furlough before a single battery has been produced.

Not again !!

Haven't we seen (and Paid For) enough of this malarkey ?

This $150 Million was a Grant, not a loan which means it's gone forever.....again !!

Workers at the Holland, Mich., LG Chem manufacturing facilities have been placed on rotating furloughs, working only three weeks per month based on lack of demand for lithium-ion cells. The facility, which was opened in July 2010 with a groundbreaking attended by Obama, has yet to produce a single battery for the Chevrolet Volt, the troubled electric car from General Motors. Production of the taxpayer-subsidized car has been plagued by work stoppages, and the effect has trickled down to companies and plants that build parts for it -- including the batteries.

great --- make the American workers work part time.

AND, keep the Korean workers working overtime ...

The 650,000-square-foot, $300 million facility was slated to produce 15,000 batteries per year, while creating hundreds of new jobs. But to date, only 200 workers are employed at the plant by by the South Korean company. Batteries for the Chevy Volts that have been produced have been made by an LG plant in South Korea.

The "Volt" is a "Jolt"

The Article .....

How 'bout a refund ?

reply to post by xuenchen

How 'bout a refund ?

Yes indeed since we all know hes made 181 million last month.

reply to post by xuenchen


You're kidding right?

You are blaiming OBAMA, because CITIZENS refuse to support the Volt as a vehicle?

I know we all wanna find something our hated politician of the year has done wrong, but aren't you grasping at straws with this one?



~Tenth

Originally posted by tothetenthpower
reply to post by xuenchen

 

You're kidding right?

You are blaiming OBAMA, because CITIZENS refuse to support the Volt as a vehicle?

I know we all wanna find something our hated politician of the year has done wrong, but aren't you grasping at straws with this one?

~Tenth

Consider the fact of the GM bailout and the control that went along with it and the alternative energy mandate that has wasted billions of dollars.

Then figure in

Nearly two years after the introduction of the path-breaking plug-in hybrid, GM is still losing as much as $49,000 on each Volt it builds, according to estimates provided to Reuters by industry analysts and manufacturing experts. GM on Monday issued a statement disputing the estimates.

www.reuters.com...

Enough taxpayer money has been blown on GM and the volt.

Originally posted by tothetenthpower
reply to post by xuenchen

 

You're kidding right?

You are blaiming OBAMA, because CITIZENS refuse to support the Volt as a vehicle?

I know we all wanna find something our hated politician of the year has done wrong, but aren't you grasping at straws with this one?

~Tenth

The connections are certainly possible since the $150 million was from the Obama stimulus.

And the story says the plant in Korea is supplying the batteries.

I wonder where the $150 million is right now ?

Compact Power, Inc.

Compact Power, Inc. (CPI) is a wholly owned subsidiary of LG Chem based in Troy, Michigan that assembles lithium-ion polymer battery systems for electric and hybrid vehicles using cells manufactured in Korea by parent company LG Chem. In 2010, they began building a battery plant to manufacture advanced battery cells for electric vehicles in Holland, Michigan. The US$303 million Holland plant received 50% of its funding from U.S. Department of Energy matching stimulus funds and is planned to open by the middle of 2012.[2] The plant is expected to produce enough cells per year to build between 50,000 and 200,000 battery packs for electric cars and hybrids such as the Volt, the Ford Focus Electric, and upcoming plug-in electric vehicles from other carmakers.

LG Chem

Not to even mention that IF GM Really wanted to make a successful electric car, they would have by now.

"Popularity" sometimes is affected by price and convenience and genuine efficiency.

reply to post by neo96


reply to post by xuenchen


This reply is for both you.

Obama has 0 control over the supply and demand of a vehicle.

I'm not supporting him giving money to GM, a bailout or any of that stuff, that's not the topic here.

What this seems to be is that you guys are blaming OBAMA for a circumstance that is entirely out of his control and that he'd have no way of knowing would happen.

It's just spurious to attack Obama for the decisions of of a multi-national. Now should he maybe call out GM on this practice at the plant, or the fact that Korean workers are doing most of the work as opposed to Americans as promised?

Hell Yes.

But he can't do anything about what you two are accusing him of being responsible for.

That's just grasping at straws. It's criticism for the sake of criticism.

~Tenth

reply to post by tothetenthpower

What this seems to be is that you guys are blaming OBAMA for a circumstance that is entirely out of his control and that he'd have no way of knowing would happen.

www.businessweek.com...

Obama should not made the volt part of the green mandate.


When Obama leaves the White house he's buying a volt.

reply to post by tothetenthpower


I agree with you to a point ....

But Obama Himself was touting this tooth and nail as it was happening.

He needs to take some responsibility.

He needs to "own up" to the failures and offer new solutions.

So far He is not.

reply to post by neo96


You're deflecting Neo.

You can't actually pin this on Obama, you're just unhappy with Obama in general, so it suits your agenda, ( and anybody else who is anti-obama) to sling mud at ANYTHING you can put his name on.

I get it, it's classic left vs right politics.

Trust me I'm just as anti-Obama as you are, the difference is I won't jump on every " Obama is Bad" Bandwagon, just for the sake of smearing his name.

I'll await legitimate issues to arise before I cast judgement on his policies and actions in office.

~Tenth

reply to post by xuenchen


I agree 100%.

He should be on the phone DEMANDING an explanation from GM and then notify the American public of their unwillingness to cooperate after being saved by Americans.

He should SHAME them into doing what they should be doing. Would that not be a beautiful thing?

This is the kind of conversation we should be happening, not "can I get a refund" for something that was done in good faith. You aren't against these kinds of Green Initiatives right?

At the time it was a great idea. The Green Agenda is a good one, if done properly, but it's impossible to foresee future events and the greed of a multi national.

~Tenth

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Obama promotes proposed $10,000 Volt tax credit

Are you having a hard time convincing yourself to buy a Chevy Volt? Perhaps a $10,000 instant tax credit will change your mind.

washingtonexaminer.com...

Obama pushed and did everything to push for a car that no one wanted at the cost of billions, nothing has been deflected,.

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Maybe the Green policies are good in some ways.

But we have seen more corruption and cronyism than genuine results.

The muney mungers see the "Green" on the backs of $100 bills, not the "Green" to save the planet.

I'm sick of paying for it.

reply to post by neo96


Ah, so it's again his fault that the Volt costs money?

This is a deflection, you can link stories from 2012 until your're blue in the face.

Please post the stories from when OBama made those announcements that the Volt was going to be a dud.

As far as I remember they were in HIGH demand prior to their initial launch. Pre-orders and interest was through the roof at the time.

It turned out to be a crappy deal, but you talk as if he'd know that.

~Tenth

reply to post by tothetenthpower


I think it's important to note that this Multi-National company is 1/3rd owned by the United States Government. That is the rough % that exists today.(26.5% to get picky from an article last month) AIG paid their money back to TARP but GM either hasn't or hasn't been allowed to pay their money off.

As long as the U.S. Government is riding GM's wagon to the tune of 10's of billions of our dollars then I say if Obama can't influence things then why NOT? If the managed bailout the nation was sold on was NOT about managing their losses ...like the Volt has become..then what was it? The banks were cut straight checks and lines of credit. The automakers, save for Ford who took a very small amount, took the money under the guidance of the Auto Czar and I'm not clear who controls it all now.

On a general note.... GM has opened no U.S. plants since 2008 that I could find. It HAS closed 10 US plants since 2009. Now they are expanding greatly in China and proudly declare 70% of their production capacity is overseas. Well... I should say so...They CLOSED the U.S. side of things to a large degree, or so it seems.

Tim Lee will become GM vice president, Global Manufacturing, effective immediately. Lee will also retain his position as president, GM International Operations, overseeing regional markets which account for 40 percent of GM’s global sales volume and include China, Russia and South Korea. Lee will continue reporting to GM Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson.

The move underscores the reality of GM’s manufacturing footprint and regional operations around the world. GM and its partners currently build vehicles in 30 countries for more than 100 global markets. Seventy percent of GM products are built outside of the United States in accordance with the company’s longstanding philosophy of building where it sells.

“Leading a portfolio that includes more than 60 plants in 15 countries gives Tim a terrific vantage point for this job,” said Akerson. “His extensive manufacturing experience coupled with this alignment will help deliver great, quality vehicles that keep pace with GM’s global growth.”

Source - GM News Release

We'd all have nothing much to say either way, if they weren't doing this on OUR dime as American Taxpayers...but they only exist right now for the bailouts the U.S. taxpayer gave them. To say thank you, 10 plants are gone and their biggest and brightest news seems to be expansion overseas.

WHICH Presidential Candidate has an offshoring problem? 1/3rd Ownership.....It makes ya think. I wonder what Uncle Sammy will do with the 100 Volts Obama ordered bought as the first off the assembly line?

reply to post by tothetenthpower

Ah, so it's again his fault that the Volt costs money?

What I said it is his fault that billions have been wasted on something known to be a "dud" from his own words.

Considering loans,grants,tax credits can only come from presidential approval.

reply to post by neo96

Considering loans,grants,tax credits can only come from presidential approval.

What?

reply to post by Kali74


What?

So tell me where does government subsidies come from since I clearly don't know?

Government loans,Government grants, and government tax credits.

Enlighten me.

It seems like there is a plot to keep Americans from manufacturing anything.

reply to post by tothetenthpower


One of the problems was that Obama, in his green agenda, didn't take into account there was no infrastructure already in place to accommodate electric and some hybrid cars.. What is the benefit of buying a green car, with little to no charging stations in place to make sure the car meets your needs. You buy a car for transportation. Not to tout the fact that you own a green car.

Obama didn't plan well enough in choosing what alternative energy companies to toss billions of OUR tax dollars at.
Those companies are accountable to US, the taxpayers, who's money was given to them, by Obama, representing US.

So, yes, he is responsible, in some ways. He's the President of the United States of America...that means all of us. Not just the few whom he was courting favor with.

jmoho....Des

President Obama touted it in 2010 as evidence "manufacturing jobs are coming back to the United States,” but two years later, a Michigan hybrid battery plant built with $150 million in taxpayer funds is putting workers on furlough before a single battery has been produced. Read more: www.foxnews.com...

This is from the link in the op. So Obama only gets to own it if it works? Considering even his own people claim he doesn't listen to his advisers, odds are this was his brilliant idea. This isn't about mudslinging it's about when does the potus get to own his failures? Gov't and business don't mix well at all. You can mandate all you want but the market will ultimately decide what sells. The volt was an attempt to mass market a green vehicle that doesn't have enough of the necessary groundwork in place to make it practical.