Posted on 01/29/2013 5:08:48 PM PST by Brad from Tennessee
(Reuters) - China's largest auto parts maker won U.S. government approval to buy A123 Systems Inc (AONEQ.PK), a maker of electric car batteries, despite warnings by some lawmakers that the deal would transfer sensitive technology developed with U.S. government money.
The sale of the lithium-ion battery maker to a U.S. unit of Wanxiang Group was approved by a U.S. government committee on foreign investment, according to a statement from the Chinese company.
Last month, Wanxiang's U.S. unit agreed to pay $257 million for A123's automotive battery business and related assets in a bankruptcy auction, beating U.S. rival Johnson Controls Inc (JCI.N) of Milwaukee.
But the transaction still needed approval by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a government body led by the Treasury secretary. The CFIUS approved the deal on Monday night, according to Wanxiang. . .
Here’s link:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/29/us-a123-wanxiang-approval-idUSBRE90S0JN20130129
The treason continues...we’ve been sold down the river.
And most Americans voted FOR this.
Just how many gazillion dollars did Bronco Bamma dump in this
Before handing it to the commies? Unreal.
Most Americans didn’t vote for ‘this’... The MSM debates were filled with questions handed to so called journalist by dem PR firms. The last thing those groups want to talk about is government skim... and what those ‘donations’ cost the country.
Right. We've allowed a company to be sold that produced absolutely nothing that Americans wanted and still don't. Why the worry?
What the hell are you talking about @BfloGuy? It clearly states that Johnson Controls bid. How many others bid from the US? What is the sensitive technology, and why are you NOT worried about it.
Are you a traitor commie spy?
Their batteries were not good in an electric car. But, guess what - nobody has a good battery for an electric car! Perhaps one cannot be even made, based on what we know about chemistry and physics. Misuse of a Li-Ion battery is not any more important than misuse of any other essential technology.
It would be a major exaggeration to say that nobody in the USA (or in the world) needs Li-Ion batteries. The exact opposite is undeniably true. Those batteries are used in every handheld gadget. The error of A123 was in betting on the automotive market; they did their best, but that goal was unattainable a year ago, is unattainable today, and probably not much will change 10 years down the road. Sure, you can have an EV today. It will only cost more than ten gas-powered sports cars, and you will be replacing batteries ($100K a pop) instead of oil ($30, incl. labor.) They failed in the marketspace. However people who need batteries to power missiles in flight... those may be not so concerned about price.
I don't think lithium-ion battery technology is a closely-held American secret and, given the grounding of the 787 due to problems [fires] with those batteries and given the slow sales of the Volt also due in part to fires caused by the batteries, I wouldn't be surprised if l-i just disappears -- other than in cellphones and iPods.
Nonetheless, isn't the entire objection here to the Chinese buying anything in the U.S.?
Heh. Between the FReepers calling me a "Marxist" and most others calling me a "winger", I'm not sure where I fit on the political continuum anymore.
What is the sensitive technology, and why are you NOT worried about it.
I don't think the technology is sensitive. And this company went spectacularly bankrupt [after spending our money] trying to produce products using the technology. There's nothing there anymore.
There are no employees. There is no R&D department. There is no brilliant CEO. There's a building admittedly with equipment to build batteries that are too heavy, too expensive, and too combustible to be of any practical use in anything other than cellphones.
For Pete's sake. The mighty Boeing 787 [of which I desperately wanted to be a fan] has been grounded because of the flaws in lithium-ion technology. Now, I don't even pretend to be a physicist, an engineer, or even a decent draftsman, but the history of this technology suggests that's it's been oversold and will likely be replaced.
As I asked another commenter who disagreed with me, isn't this really about the Chinese buying anything here at all?
It's not a secret from the chemical point of view. However it takes specific technologies to manufacture a functioning battery out of basic chemicals. Most OEM batteries in laptops come from Japan. Batteries are wearable parts, so having a battery plant guarantees you a lot of repeat business.
Also A123 was working on improving the technology. This is particularly important in light of those fires on 787. Not every battery is good enough to operate in a vehicle that experiences serious high frequency vibration. Yes, the chemistry is dangerous. But it offers the most energy density among rechargeable batteries (especially per unit of weight.) Better batteries will be even more dangerous; if you want your laptop to work for weeks the battery has to hold all that energy, and if all that energy is released quickly you will get fire or explosion. Reactions that can hold lots of energy are also capable of quick release of it. Reactions that are slow and safe are also not very capable (Ni-Cd, Alkaline.) Prius batteries use NiMH, it is somewhere in the middle - not very capable, but very safe. The plug-in Prius uses Li-Ion, but I only read about such a car; I'm unsure if it exists.
Nonetheless, isn't the entire objection here to the Chinese buying anything in the U.S.?
I don't know. They are welcome to buy many things that we make for sale, or that we plenty of, or that we don't need. The money must flow both ways. But, as usual, you have to be careful what you sell and to who. Aims of China are very well known - to become the dominating force on the planet; and Chinese rulers were never too gentle with their subjects.
Fine, if many Americans were ignorant of this administration’s failures, they still “voted for this” out of ignorance to it.
That is very true -- I'm no apologist for China's political system. Trade, though, is still a very effective peacekeeper.
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