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A123 Systems, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Wanxiang Group, is a developer and manufacturer of advanced lithium-ion (lithium iron phosphate) batteries and energy storage systems for transportation and other commercial and industrial applications. The company was founded in 2001 by Dr. Yet-Ming Chiang, Dr. Bart Riley, and Ric Fulop. By 2009, it had about 2,500 employees globally and was headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.〔(Global Cleantech 100 ) ''The Guardian'', September 8, 2009.〕 The company's original product technology was based upon materials initially developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2010, A123 received a US$249 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for building battery production facilities. Approximately $129 million of the grant was used to build a 550 MWh battery plant in Livonia and another in Romulus. An untapped $120 million grant was abandoned by A123 by May 2012. The company laid off 125 workers in December 2011 as demand for partner Fisker's automobiles had slackened. A123 Systems had more than 3000 employees as of December 2012.〔 In August 2012, Chinese automotive components manufacturer Wanxiang Group agreed to invest up to $465 million to acquire as much as 80% of A123 Systems; but the acquisition was not completed before A123 filed for bankruptcy. On October 16, 2012, A123 filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code. On January 28, 2013, Wanxiang America purchased the preponderance of A123's assets out of bankruptcy for $256.6M and organized A123Systems, LLC.〔 An earlier statement, released by A123 Systems in early October, said that it had entered an asset purchase agreement with Johnson Controls, with the stipulation that the company's bid must be approved by a US bankruptcy court and could be topped by a rival bidder. In the event, Johnson did not win the bankruptcy auction and withdrew its bid in early December.〔 〕 In early October 2012, the A123 Systems' stock was trading for 27 cents per share, down from a 52-week high of $4.44 per share about a year beforehand. == History == In November 2005, the company announced a new, higher power, faster-recharging lithium-ion battery system〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=''EV World'' "A123Systems Introduces New Generation Lithium-Ion Battery" )〕 based on doped nanophosphate materials licensed from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In December 2006, the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded the company a US$15 million development contract to optimize A123 Systems' proprietary doped nano-phosphate battery technology for hybrid electric vehicle applications with a focus on power, abuse tolerance, durability and cost. USABC is an organization composed of Chrysler LLC Corporation, Ford Motor Company, and General Motors Corporation.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.uscar.org/guest/article_view.php?articles_id=39 )〕 BAE Systems announced that, from 2008, it would offer A123 Systems' lithium-ion battery technology as part of its HybriDrive Propulsion System used in the 2008 version of the Daimler Orion VII hybrid electric buses. As of September 7, 2009, more than 3,000 of the buses were in service.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=3,000 Hybrid Buses: Daimler Buses North America Reaches Sales Milestone )〕 In May 2008, the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded the company a US$12.5 million grant to develop its lithium ion battery technology for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. On March 5, 2008, General Electric, the company, and Think Global announced that the three firms had entered a partnership to enable global electrification of transportation. GE invested US$20 million in the company to help it roll out batteries for Think. The company and Think at the same time signed a commercial supply agreement. The partnership was announced at the 78th annual international Motor Show in Geneva.〔(A123 Systems press release )〕 After over $10MM in investment in the Think Global Think City, A123 ceased production of its L20 battery pack for Think after a single day of production in December, 2008. In January 2009, the company applied to the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program (ATVMLP) for US$1.84 billion in direct loans to support the construction of new lithium-ion battery manufacturing facilities in the United States, locating the first plant in southeast Michigan near Detroit.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Renewable Energy News, Jobs, Events, Companies, and more )〕 The application was still pending as of early 2012, the company estimated that it might be allowed to borrow up to US$233 million from the program. In April 2009, Chrysler Corp. announced a contract with A123 to supply batteries for their ENVI EV vehicles. In August 2009, the company received a US$249 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program (ATVMLP) to build production facilities in Romulus and Livonia, Mich. after it received a US$125 million in tax credits and incentives from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation in spring and a US$10 million grant from the state in fall 2008. In September 2009, the company raised US$380 million after going public on the NASDAQ stock exchange.〔 〕 Chrysler's ENVI division was disbanded by Nov 2009. In December 2009, the company formed a joint venture with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), the largest automaker in China. This was the first joint venture between a Chinese automaker and a non-Chinese battery supplier. The new venture is called Advanced Traction Battery Systems (ATBS). In August 2010, A123's co-founder Professor Yet-Ming Chiang spun off a new company from A123 named 24M Technologies, which makes technology that combines concepts in current lithium ion batteries with flow batteries, where tanks of liquid electrolytes combine to create an electric current. In September 2010, the company opened the largest lithium ion battery manufacturing facility in North America in Livonia, Michigan. When fully operational, the factory is expected to be capable of producing battery packs for the equivalent of up to 30,000 electric cars per year.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.sae.org/mags/aei/8863 )〕 In March 2011, the company received its third contract from the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE): an US$8 million advanced battery development contract to continue developing its Nanophosphate® lithium ion battery systems to meet USABC’s target application for a Power-Assist Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PAHEV) Low-Energy Energy Storage System (LEESS). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「A123 Systems」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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