Electric vehicle grants

The feds are giving money to over four dozens industrial and research operations connected with the development of electric cars in the U.S. The total grants are nearly $2.5 billion. This is not like we have a major national commitment to electric cars. The $2.5 billion is equal to about 0.5% of what we spend via the Pentagon every year. WHO GETS THE ELECTRIC CAR GRANTS? Ford. General Motors. Navistar. ECOtotality. DowKokam. EnerDel. Saft America. Exide Technologies. Johnson Controls of Milwaukee got the biggest chunk. They get nearly $300 million to boost US "production of nickel-cobalt-metal battery cells and packs, as well as production of battery separators (by partner Entek) for hybrid and electric vehicles." That's a direct quote from the government grant list. Cascade Sierra Solutions got $22 million. They'll put electric outlets in truck stops and modify 5,450 trucks so cabs can be heated or cooled without idling the engine. Here's a complete list of the grants. Getting a few million each were some universities scattered in various Congressional districts: Purdue, Colorado State, West Virginia University, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Wayne State, Michigan Tech., University of Michigan and even City College of San Francisco got a half mil. Michigan, Indiana and the rest of the rust belt got much of the hand-outs. Texas and Utah got shut out. [poll id="166"]