A123 Files For Bankruptcy, Johnson Controls To Take Over

by Derek Kreindler

Published: October 16th, 2012

a123 files for bankruptcy johnson controls to take over

Reuters reports that battery maker A123 Systems is filing to bankruptcy protection in Delaware.

The company has received cash infusions from China earlier this summer, and its financial situation has been precarious, to say the least. Political controversies were also part and parcel of the story, as with any green energy project today, and A123 received a $249 million dollar grant from the Obama administration in 2009. A123 supplied battery technology to Fisker and General Motors.

UPDATE:

Johnson Controls will be purchasing the remnants of A123, while providing $72.5 million in funding to help A123 continue operations as it goes through bankruptcy proceedings.

Crain’s Detroit Business is reporting that

Under the deal, the Waltham, Mass-based A123 will pay to license technology its own grid, commercial and government technologies from JCI.

Presumably, A123’s brand will carry on under the JCI empire. That won’t do much for the beleaguered battery company, which apparently posted 14 consecutive losing quarters, and has $376 million in debt versus $459.8 million in assets. In the filing, A123 noted

“The company may not have sufficient cash to fund operations and may need to seek the protections provided under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code…No assurance can be given that the company will be able to avoid restructuring, reorganization, or a bankruptcy filing.”

#A123 #A123Systems #Battery #ElectricVehicles #EV #Fisker #GeneralMotors #GM #Green

Derek Kreindler

More by Derek Kreindler

Comments

Join the conversation

2 of 90 comments

SCE to AUX on Oct 16, 2012

Good thing Johnson Controls is there to keep the lights on at A123, but it probably won't be the same company once the dust settles.

Like Reply
Cheezeweggie on Oct 17, 2012

this is a political rant pretending to be a car blog.

Like Reply

Recent Comments

Joe65688619 My last new car was a 2020 Acura RDX. Left it parked in the Florida sun for a few hours with the windows up the first day I had it, and was literally coughing and hacking on the offgassing. No doubt there is a problem here, but are there regs for the makeup of the interiors? The article notes that that "shockingly"...it's only shocking to me if they are not supposed to be there to begin with.
MaintenanceCosts "GLX" with the 2.slow? I'm confused. I thought that during the Mk3 and Mk4 era "GLX" meant the car had a VR6.
Dr.Nick What about Infiniti? Some of those cars might be interesting, whereas not much at Nissan interest me other than the Z which is probably big bucks.
Dave Holzman My '08 Civic (stick, 159k on the clock) is my favorite car that I've ever owned. If I had to choose between the current Civic and Corolla, I'd test drive 'em (with stick), and see how they felt. But I'd be approaching this choice partial to the Civic. I would not want any sort of automatic transmission, or the turbo engine.
Merc190 I would say Civic Si all the way if it still revved to 8300 rpm with no turbo. But nowadays I would pick the Corolla because I think they have a more clear idea on their respective models identity and mission. I also believe Toyota has a higher standard for quality.