Link (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124329271803452475.html)

Companies, States Vie for $2.4 Billion in Funding Aimed at Turning U.S. Into Top Maker of Fuel Cells for Electric Cars

The Obama administration has set off a gold rush to power new environmentally friendly cars.

In one of the government's biggest efforts at shaping industrial policy, the Energy Department has been soliciting applications for $2.4 billion in funding aimed at turning the U.S. into a battery-manufacturing powerhouse. At the deadline last week, the department said it had received 165 applications.

Companies vying for the federal money include General Motors Corp., Dow Chemical Co., Johnson Controls Inc. and A123 Systems, a closely held battery maker backed by General Electric Co. and others. States including Michigan, Kentucky and Massachusetts are also weighing in with applications, usually in alliance with their favored battery makers.

When the winners are decided, as soon as the end of July, the Energy Department may anoint Livonia, Mich., or Indianapolis or Glendale, Ky., as the future U.S. hub of car batteries. A 2008 study by researchers at Alliance Bernstein forecast the current $9 billion-a-year auto-battery market, based on lead-acid batteries, could reach more than $150 billion by 2030.

I hope almost all the money goes to the break-through new designs we have been reading about. It takes a lot of money and time to set up a new large scale manufacturing plant, and if you just build a standard Li-ion plant then by the time it gets operational, you get to compete with the dieing end of the market. If you invest in the leading edge by the time you get to market you will compete in the hottest segment.