Does Lobbying Always Pay?

Wonder if Boston Power will indeed leave the US, as their CEO mentioned at XSITE earlier this year, to a near-audible gasp from the audience.

A123's decision to do its manufacturing in Michigan, along with its ties to the auto-industry, seem like they certainly played a key role in this funding. Great company that wants to kickstart the clean car revolution in Detroit? Stimulus no-brainer.

are you kidding me? everything about Obama and his Chicago thugs is based on money. this country has never been as corrupt as it is today. funny how Obama hates US industry, UNLESS they're shelling out to him and his croonies. Obama is no different than any crime boss. but i have more respect for the criminals...e.g., at least the mafia is honest about being dishonest.

It does seem like the discrepancy is fully explained by the fact that A123 is making car batteries, and thus operating in the area where billions have been designated for green innovation. Their large lobbying expenses in 2007-2008 were after all, aimed at the Republican regime that is now out of office, and may have been of limited use other than increasing their visibility. Laptop batteries, while a big concern for consumers, have little impact on the environment, and I would be quite irked if the government were subsidizing iPods or similar doo-dads.

Opinion Scott, this is one case where the federal government may have actually made a smart decision. A123 batteries are high power, safe batteries suitable for use in hybrid electric vehicles and electric vehicles. They have the potential to transform the auto industry, and have been spec'd into 2010 model cars. Boston Power makes longer lasting batteries for laptops (able to take more recharges, not lasting longer per charge). They call these "green" batteries because people theoretically won't replace their batteries as frequently. However, this is a somewhat modest value proposition, since most people's laptops will obsolete before their batteries die. I.e. it is a bit of a stretch and therefore only offered as an option for Greenies. It's cute, but not critical, and certainly not transformative.

is the proposed plant in Michigan union.......thought so!

A123 is just another faceless, government- connected, global-corporate-wannabe, who made the coice to put their factory where they knew it would do them the most political good. They will shortly move thier operations to
South Korea. Now that we gave them the money to do that. Hooray for congessional stupidity.
Boston Power's mistake was thinking that innovation, would be valued by the government. It's not like the president ever mentioned innovation as a valuable thing.

Given that since 2000, the number of registered lobbyists in Washington has more than doubled to a mind-numbing 34,750 plus, it doesn't take a lithium scientist to say yes, lobbying pays. As for the battle between A123 Systems and Battery-Power, on one hand you could argue that A123 got the job based on their connections to the auto industry and the fact that they intend to build a factory in Michigan. On the other hand, they also spent over ten times more than Battery-Power to “persuade” those in charge to give the dough so ultimately, who knows? In any case, compared to the big boys in DC lobbying, it’s small potatoes. If it means money for green tech well then, more power to them.

Boston-Power's batteries do indeed last longer -- about 3x longer than traditional Li-ion batteries. They also charge faster and have a bunch of novel safety features and green benefoits in addition to being longer lasting in terms of chemicals and heavy metals not used in the process. Its beachhead application -- notebooks -- was compelling enough for HP to sign on, and HP's the #1 provider of notebooks worldwide. Boston-Power's cells can power a range of applications.In fact they build cells for PHEV now, recently converted a dealer-purchased Fortd Escape to run on them as an example in just 30 days, and are booking orders in this sector. Funding innovation is great. Good luck to all those companies that received the $. There's more companies worth funding beyond those...and let's hope it happens.

For the record, Boston Power has had a plant under construction in China for almost a year. The idea of building a plant here only arose out of the potential of stimulus funding.

Maybe someone should have a battery olympics to find the true technologies and who is pure hype. I don't believe that Boston Power has a battery that lasts 3x as long... it has to compromise something. Do their PHEV batteries also last 3x as long? Now, do they have the power to move a car adequately? Power and energy density are just two things that classify a batteries use... weight, cost, size, power, energy density, etc. People make certain battery chemistries for different uses.

Of course, spending lots on lobbying does help. I can not say much with A123 being government connected as someone did, but maybe? A123 may just have a better plan that is more impressive and detailed than other companies.

Love the idea of the Li-ion battery Olympics. The process can include a public, transparent evaluation of criteria and weighting as well as demonstration and judging. Boston-Power believes it has a battery that'll show well and would welcome this. It's certainly true that the company has mass manufacturing in Asia - like the overwhelming majority of Li-ion battery companies, A123 included. It has customer orders to fill. The fact that it's virtually impossible to finance a US-based manuf effort based on private equity and without federal support is what led to the stimulus effort in the first place. Boston-Power was in BusinessWeek last June expressing its desire to bring some of its manufacturing to the US - long before stimulus was even discussed. It makes sense that they pursued the stimulus grant opportunity.