So here is what we know about a new project to spend taxpayer money to start up a battery research center at the Argonne National Lab, it's going to cost about 120 million bucks for this research facility.  The Fox News story reports, "The stated goal: to create a new “Manhattan Project” that will develop an EV battery in the next five years that lasts five times as long and costs one-fifth as much as current EV batteries."

Now, doesn't all of that sound great?  Yes, it sounds wonderful.  Being able to rely on super batteries to get our cars to go further and having to depend less on oil from other areas of the globe, sounds great.  Here is the one issue that I have with this plan: Why do we have to pay for it? I just think we should leave these innovations up to private industry.  America was built by entrepreneurs with great ideas.  It fuels us, so to speak.

Some would argue that private industry can't do it alone, and they need the help of government.  That might be so, but the only follow up to that is where does it stop?  See, in my mind it never does.  We spend billions of taxpayer money every year on research into healthcare issues through grants.  We need that, right?  We spend, some would argue, billions every year giving tax breaks to certain industries, so there it is....our spending just goes on and on and on.

If we were really worried about out national security in relation to oil and gas and our country's dependency on other nations for those resources, why didn't the Energy Department fix this problem when it was created years ago?  Remember, they were created for the very purpose of lessening America's dependency on other countries for those resources.  You know what happened with that department since former President Jimmy Carter created it in the 70's, it's bigger and fatter than ever.

This new endeavor will be called The Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR).  According to Fox News, "it will be a think tank for multiple government entities like the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington, in addition to private companies like Dow Chemical and Johnson Controls. Even General Motors is an affiliate – and likely future licensee of the technology."

Jeff Chamberlain, the deputy for development and demonstration at JCESR says, "the U.S. imports a billion gallons of oil per day. But if even 5 percent of drivers switched to EVs, that could mean $100 billion in battery purchases that would be powered largely by domestically produced energy."

“The Chevy Volt sticker price is $40,000. If we can have a battery with five times as much energy [as the one in the Volt] at even a third of the cost, then those vehicles become cost competitive with gas vehicles. If they are competitive on the lot, and they can save on costs to drive, people will buy them,” says Chamberlain.

Hmmmmm.....weren't we just reading a news story a few months ago in Forbes about how sales were not so hot for Chevy Volts? Hmmmmm, we fund research, no one likes the cars or the technology, but it's going to make us safer and save us energy? Hmmmm, I don't know, what do you think?

 

More From News Talk 96.5 KPEL