Chinese company to buy U.S. govt-backed maker of electric car batteries

[jsr]

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-12-08/business/chi-wanxiang-wins-auction-for-assets-of-battery-maker-a123-20121208_1_wanxiang-a123-chinese-auto-parts-maker

Wanxiang wins auction for assets of battery maker A123
December 08, 2012 | By Julie Wernau | Tribune reporter

Chinese firm Wanxiang emerged as the winning bidder of bankrupt battery-maker A123's assets after a days long auction that lasted until nearly 4 a.m. Saturday.

The sale of A123, which was awarded a $249.1 million federal grant and tens of millions of dollars in tax credits from Michigan, has been the subject of intense political debate, with military leaders and politicians arguing that U.S.-funded technology should not be transferred to the foreign firm...

The Wanxiang purchase of A123 marks the second major foreign purchase of a U.S. battery company backed by Department of Energy funding....

[tech3149]

1. These stories frost me to no end but thanks for posting

I have no idea what the business problems were with the company but the technology worked very well and was valuable enough that someone wanted to buy it.
As a hobbyist with a background in electronics, I and others have been have been converting systems to use these batteries for years. Pretty much anything that relied on battery power was a perfect target for this battery technology. You could buy them as replacement packs for power tools very cheap and strip them down to use the cells in your application.
What really frosts me is that a web search brings up all these stories and articles about the failure of another green company or government money invested in another losing business.
It's all hogsnot and a myopic view of the true situation. We've been supporting the extraction of fossil fuels for at least eighty years to the tune of trillions of dollars but put up a few billion to advance renewable energy and your backing a loser.