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" This past August, then-candidate Barack Obama proposed a 10-year, $150 billion energy plan that included an ambitious deadline: one million  plug-in hybrids on the road in the United States by 2015. Of course, that was before gas prices plummeted to historic lows, before the mortgage implosion in September, and before the Detroit Three appeared before Congress, hat in hand. But even if President-elect Obama can overcome a raft of financial obstacles, the million plug-in plan or any other attempt to dramatically increase the nation&amp;#039;s fleet of hybrids, plug-ins and all-electric vehicles could face an unexpected roadblock--too much political will, and not enough batteries. Last week Brian Wynne, the president of the  Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA),  told the Wall Street Journal that there are no companies in the United States currently producing the kind of batteries used in hybrids or electric vehicles. That appears to be true--for a few weeks, at least. New York City-based  Ener1, one of four domestic players in the automotive-battery market, plans to begin volume production of lithium-ion battery packs next month, as part of a deal with Norwegian electric vehicle (EV) maker Think. Having recently acquired a Korean battery manufacturer, Ener1 now claims to have a total production capacity of 450,000 hybrid-electric packs per year, or 45,000 EV packs (which require more cells per pack). The company plans to reach that capacity by 2011. And while not every U.S. battery maker is so forthcoming with its production numbers, even if all four major companies reached similar capacities, a battery crunch seems inevitable. &amp;quot;There is going to be a bottleneck,&amp;quot; says Ener1 spokesperson Rachel Carroll. &amp;quot;We want to address it now. We feel that we have a huge advantage, but we recognize what we are, which is a relatively small player.&amp;quot; The automotive battery juggernauts, such as LG and Samsung, are based largely in Asia, which is also where many of Ener1&amp;#039;s key engineers hail from. But the primary obstacle to meeting a stateside spike in hybrid and EV demand isn&amp;#039;t technological, says Carroll. It could take an influx of money, and bigger companies, to counter the years of brain drain and relative indifference to this burgeoning industry in the United States. Intel&amp;#039;s co-founder has said that he wants the company to pursue EV. &amp;quot;There are a lot of rumblings coming from larger players,&amp;quot; says Carroll. &amp;quot;There&amp;#039;s going to be a scramble for build-out capacity. And you can either buy scale, or build it from scratch.&amp;quot; While start-ups and university labs continue to announce breakthroughs in energy densities and manufacturing techniques, the real solution to the coming battery shortage might come from a consortium of 14 U.S. technology companies that was announced yesterday. The consortium, which calls itself the National Alliance for Advanced Transportation Battery Cell Manufacture, has plans to dip into the coffers of the government and make good on as much as $1 billion in federal funds promised for battery technology in last year&amp;#039;s energy-security act. Although the focus of the consortium, which include 3M and Johnson Controls, is not specifically focused on batteries for EVs and hybrids, it plans to build the first large-scale lithium ion plant on American soil, which is a big first step in creating the infrastructure necessary to provide for an electric car revolution in the U.S. In the meantime, Ener1 is currently testing battery packs for two major automakers--neither of which is based in the United States.  RELATED STORIES * PLUS: The Quest for the Electric Car&amp;#039;s Perfect Plug  * REALITY CHECK: Toyota, Experts See Plug-In Car Trouble  * TEST DRIVE: 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid Test Drive  * EARLIER: Top 10 New Eco-Friendly Car Companies  * COMPLETE COVERAGE: All of PM&amp;#039;s Plug-In Hybrid Test Drives in One Place!   "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/a12265/4296277/>