BASF Catalysts in Elyria to expand and receive $24.6 million in federal stimulus money to produce lithium-ion batteries

8/6/2009 7

The Obama administration wants to take its quest to produce low- and no-emissions cars for a spin through Lorain County, the White House announced Wednesday.  BASF Catalysts in Elyria will get $24.6 million in federal stimulus money and spend a similar sum itself in order to produce nickel-cobalt-metal cathode material for cutting-edge lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion batteries have more than twice the capacity of the nickel batteries that are now used in most hybrid cars, and are better at holding a charge.

The company will expand its Elyria plant over the next three years for the work, said Prashant S. Chintawar, manager of the lithium-ion division at BASF. Ultimately, this will enable BASF to produce the materials for batteries that go into "everything from hybrid-electric to full electric vehicles," Chintawar said.

This is not some science fiction vision of the future, nor is research and development, according to government officials and BASF. Rather, "we're in the early planning stage for the production plant," Chintawar said.

U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and other officials cited the potential for cutting greenhouse gas emissions and curbing reliance on foreign oil, and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio said it "is all about laying the groundwork for the future." But the government, the company and the politicians did not provide estimates of the number of new jobs to be created. Chintawar said it would mean an eventual expansion of the 150-member workforce already at the Elyria plant but he would not give a specific sum.

"Not only in the near term will it create jobs by way of building the facility," said U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton, a Democrat who represents the area in Congress, "but it will also create jobs in the long term as we become in a leader in the development and deployment of the next generation of litium-ion batteries, which are essential for the future of our auto industry." She called the potential "extraordinary," adding that "it is exactly what we need in Northeast Ohio to take advantage of what awaits us."

The BASF project was included in an broader White House announcement of $2.4 billion in federal economic stimulus grants to accelerate the manufacture of electric vehicles. Another Ohio operation, TOXCO Inc., in Lancaster, will get $9.5 million for hydrothermal recycling of lithium-ion batteries.

"There are some who talk about the stimulus not working," said Gov. Ted Strickland in telephone news conference with Brown, Sutton and Hilda Solis. "I can tell you in Ohio it is working. We are receiving significant resources through the stimulus package, and this is just two wonderful examples."

The $2.4 billion represents the single largest investment in advanced battery technology for hybrid and electric-drive vehicles ever made, the White House said. The Department of Energy picked the companies through "a highly competitive process," the White House said.

President Barack Obama used an appearance in Elkhart, Ind., to announce the awards, made with money from the $787 billion economic stimulus bill passed by Congress earlier this year.

The $2.4 billion will pay for 48 new advanced battery and electric drive projects altogether, accelerating high-technology vehicle manufacturing and creating tens of thousands of jobs, Obama said during his visit to the economically struggling area, where recreation vehicle makers once provided steady employment.

"If we want to reduce our dependence on oil, put Americans back to work and reassert our manufacturing sector as one of the greatest in the world, we must produce the advanced, efficient vehicles of the future," Obama said.

BASF, a German company with U.S. headquarters in New Jersey, is the world's largest chemical company. In June, it announced it had signed a worldwide licensing agreement with the Energy Department's Argonne National Laboratory to mass produce and market the patented chemicals to manufacturers of advanced lithium-ion batteries.

The existing BASF plant in Elyria already makes catalysts, or substances that accelerate chemical reactions for a variety of applications.

What is BASF?  BASF, headquartered in Germany, is the world's leading chemical company. It has about 97,000 employees, including about 150 in Elyria -- part of its 15,000-member workforce in North America. It produces chemicals, coatings, plastics and agricultural products, and is Germany's largest oil and gas company.

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