By Michael F. Carmichael
July 29, 2010
“White House Press Pool” it said on the six-sided tag Corp! was issued after getting Secret Service clearance to join about 150 other media types – from the ones you see on national television to two reporters from the Holland Sentinel – who covered the presidential groundbreaking of a new lithium-ion battery plant in Holland’s southern industrial area.
| President Obama speaking to assembled guests at groundbreaking for $300 million electric vehicle battery plant. |
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It’s not an area usually seen by the tourists who normally flock at this time of year to the Lake Michigan beaches and enjoy boating on adjoining Lake Macatawa, but it’s home to furniture companies such as Hayworth, auto parts manufacturers that include Johnson Controls and now about to be home to Compact Power, a subsidiary of South Korea’s giant LG Chem.
LG Chem is itself a division of the sprawling conglomerate LG Corp. It is South Korea’s second largest company and produces electronic and telecommunications gear in addition to a wide variety of chemical-based products. You’ll find their brand on everything from home refrigerators to cell phones in more than 80 countries.
LG Chem CEO Peter Bahn-Suk Kim.
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Having the president of the United States come to Holland was a big deal – to the American media. Having LG Group Chairman Bon-Moo Koo come to Holland was a much bigger deal to the South Korean media representatives who buried him in microphones and cameras after the event.
And, Corp! discovered, after the event is where the real stories emerge.
But, we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
Broadcast media were allowed access to the site during the early morning hours of July 15 to locate their satellite trucks and set up their camera positions on a riser that was located in front of two large tents where reporters sat at rows of tables that had power sources for their laptops – but, according to the White House press office advance e-mail: “Wireless Internet is NOT available on site.” Some of us were allowed to watch and shoot photos outside the tent, but were separated from the 400 invited guests in their white folding chairs by a decorative fence – and a holly bush. The Sentinel reporters had the advantage over the non-locals, recognizing local dignitaries as they filed into the seating area and interviewing them over the fence.
The event was to begin at 1:30 p.m., but well before that various law enforcement and other emergency vehicles arrived on site.
There was a stir of excitement as four helicopters appeared overhead – two banana-shaped ones carrying, among others we assumed, the members of the national White House press pool who had accompanied President Obama on Air Force One to the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids. That’s where NBC White House reporter Chuck Todd interviewed the president about the trip to the normally conservative Republican region of West Michigan. The two ‘copters everyone was most interested in were the olive and white ones – with one of them known as Marine One, the one with the presidential seal.
These craft landed at the Tulip City airport, a short drive from the Compact Power location. From there a presidential motorcade made its way with lights and sirens blazing past local citizens who, for the most part, cheered. A small collection of Tea Party protestors was strategically positioned near the intersection the presidential party would pass to reach the ground-breaking location.
On arrival, the presidential SUV with its flags flying from the fenders backed into an enclosed part of the huge series of tents that were for the invited guests. There President Obama had lunch and people posed for photos during a VIP “meet-and-greet.”
A number of those VIPs were also speakers at the event. One was Peter Bahn-Suk Kim, the LG Chem CEO. He bowed to the audience, “This is a special day for us and it will continue getting more exciting as we see the plant take shape and ultimately become a thriving, productive facility that is helping lead the way toward the electrification of vehicles.” Another bow.
| Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm addressing invited guests at LG Chem/Compact Power groundbreaking ceremony. |
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“Electrification of vehicles” is music to Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm’s ears, as that represents one of her key “emerging sectors” to help the state climb back from its dependence on an automotive manufacturing sector now vastly smaller than it used to be. “Michigan is rapidly becoming a global center for advanced battery research, development and manufacturing,” she said to the guests in the white folding chairs. “Today’s groundbreaking in Holland marks another important milestone in the diversification of Michigan’s economy.”
| Holland Mayor Kurt Dykstra. |
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The President was introduced by Holland Mayor Kurt Dykstra, father of two daughters, who wanted to know, he said, if the president’s daughters would be coming with him. “They’re probably too busy,” Dykstra said his two had decided when they heard Sasha and Malia wouldn’t be coming on this trip with their dad.
President Obama did note that he was “partial to daughters” before he talked about the uphill climb he and his administration had to face when they took office a scant year-and-a-half ago.
| The LG Chem-Compact Power plant as it will look in 2011-12. |
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Part of the path to recovery, he pointed out, was that they “cut taxes for small business owners and for 95 percent of working families” and placed “a focus on research and development and investments in high-tech, fast-growing sectors like clean energy… . Because we did, shovels will soon be moving earth and trucks will soon be pouring concrete where we are standing. Because of a grant to this company, a grant that’s leveraging more than 150 million private dollars, as many as 300 people will be put to work doing construction and another 300-450 will eventually be hired to operate this plant when it’s fully up and running. And this is going to lead to growth at local businesses like parts suppliers and restaurants. It will be a boost to the economy of the entire region.”
The President continued, “Now, this is the ninth advanced battery plant to begin construction [in Michigan] because of our economic plan. These plants will put thousands of people to work. This includes folks who were working at a couple of facilities being built in Michigan by another battery technology company called A123. And in every case, we’ve been guided by a simple idea — government can’t generate the jobs or growth we need by itself, but what government can do is lay the foundation for small businesses to expand and to hire, for entrepreneurs to open up shop and test new products, for workers to get the training they need for the jobs of the 21st century, and for families to achieve some semblance of economic security. So our goal has never been to create a government program, but rather to unleash private sector growth.”
Even with government tax incentives to help pay for the electric cars, they’ll still be expensive – at first. President Obama explained, “Because of advances in the manufacture of these batteries, their costs are expected to come down by nearly 70 percent in the next few years. That’s going to make electric and hybrid cars and trucks more affordable for more Americans.”
The plant will provide a boost, literally, to the long-expected Chevy Volt and – just announced earlier that week – the electric version of the Ford Focus.
| Damian Gardley, director of sales for Compact Power. |
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Corp! asked Damian Gardley, director of sales for Compact Power, why he thought LG Chem had gotten the assignment for two potentially popular vehicles. “LG Chem is a chemical company. Chemistry is in our DNA,” Gardley explained. “Most large volume cell manufacturers got their start in electronics. We’ve been in the chemical business since 1947. Our competitive edge is that we’ll always be on the upstream of technology. That’s where we put our R&D dollars.” Is Compact Power working with anyone besides Chevrolet and Ford, Corp! asks. “We’ll be working with Eaton Corporation on their commercial vehicles [class 6 trucks, such as the Ford F650] that will be electrified,” Gardley tells us.
| The Chevy Volt and the newly announced Electric Ford Focus will hit the road later this year and early next in selected markets powered by batteries from LG Chem’s Compact Power subsidiary. |
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Back in the main tent, after the president had left, Corp! spoke with Martin Klein, director of engineering for Compact Power as he stood next to a Chevy Volt and a newly unveiled electric Ford Focus. “The projections say that by 2018 you can expect to see about 12 percent electric vehicle penetration – which gets beyond the first adopters and will have people really getting into it,” says Klein. President Obama mentioned trucks as well as cars, Corp! points out. Is Compact Power going to focus on just small cars or something else. Klein responds, “We’re really looking at the larger cars, and trucks, because these are big batteries right now.” They are expected to come down both in size, and, as the president mentioned, in cost.
Klein continues, “We’re also looking at stationary and utility power, which will use batteries 5 to 10 to a hundred times this size [he points to a model of a typical Volt battery pack] to do things like load balancing at the neighborhood level and at the substation level – so there’s a lot of use for these batteries beyond just automotive.”
| A mock-up of the battery pack that will power the Chevy Volt and the Electric Ford Focus. |
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Will the average homeowner… well, perhaps not the average homeowner at this point, but those who are looking more seriously at alternative forms of energy generation besides their local utility, be able to benefit from a new generation of Compact Power batteries? Klein responds, “We’re working with a couple of utilities in a study period right now to see what size battery might make sense. People could have solar panels, a wind turbine and an electric car along with the battery. You can actually watch on a monitor as energy comes into the battery during the day when the sun is shining or when the wind is blowing and then watch it going out at night to your stove, for instance, or going to charge your car.”
As President Obama concluded his speech he offered up an optimistic note, “So to all of you who have been part of this project, thank you. This is a symbol of where Michigan is going, this is a symbol of where Holland is going, this is a symbol of where America is going.”
Mr. President, certainly many people in Michigan hope you’re right.