Biggest Backers Of A123 Systems Are Taxpayers
Venture capitalists and clean tech executives will no doubt watch closely this week to see how A123's IPO goes -- if it happens and it does well, other clean tech companies may be bold enough to follow -- but as taxpayers, you and I have more at stake. A123 has raised a whopping $600 million in government grants and loans for its rechargeable lithium ion batteries -- over half of it this year. There's a $249 million Department of Energy grant courtesy of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and $100 million in refundable tax credits from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. Both hinge on A123's plans to create jobs by moving some manufacturing to the U.S. Private investors, meanwhile, including GE and Conoco Phillips, have kicked in about half that amount -- $352 million. Financial backers are going to have to trust that A123 executives can sustain a strategy that has changed radically in just the last couple of years.
