A Waltham-based company's bankruptcy is triggering sharp debate about whether the government should support so-called "green energy" jobs. The lithium-ion battery manufacturer A123 Systems — which received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants — announced Oct. 16 that it will sell off its auto-related assets. Steven Minnihan, a senior analyst at Lux Research , says A123's products worked fine — but cost too much.
“Absolutely, they did price themselves out of the market,” Minnihan says. “A123 really does have superior performance when you compare it to systems coming out of Korea, Japan, China—they do have better technical performance and a longer lifetime, which is one of the key metrics for batteries. But that did not warrant the price premium that they were charging.
A123 Systems CEO David Vieau might agree with Minnihan. When asked last year why every car doesn’t carry an A123 battery, Vieau responded, “The biggest issue is cost.”
Nevertheless, Vieau expressed confidence about A123’s future. In the same interview last year, Vieau projected the company’s collaborations with BMW, GM, and Fisker would contribute to increased consumer choice in the hybrid market. “In the transportation space, in passenger vehicles, we’re going to see a lot more choice for consumers,” Vieau noted. “Beyond the Prius, for example, into over 100 different types of vehicles next year.”
A123 received generous subsidies from the federal government, including nearly $250 million to build a plant in Michigan. While a spokeswoman for Mitt Romney claims the bankruptcy shows President Obama's green jobs strategy is failing, A123 didn’t come up in the Oct. 16 presidential debate. The candidates’ answers to a question about energy debated the production of oil on federal lands, rather than the legitimacy of sponsoring green energy.
http://video.wgbh.org/video/2292058087/
