SOCIALISM: IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL LEAVE

Too Many Battery Factories, Too Few Electric Cars The $2.4 billion program designed to jump-start the battery industry has met with horrible market conditions. In August 2009, President Obama announced a $2.4 billion grant program designed to create an electric vehicle battery industry in the United States. Three years on, the factories funded by those grants are sitting idle or operating well below their originally intended capacity. The problem is simple. People aren't buying enough electric cars, and most of those that are being sold contain batteries made by established battery makers in Asia. KEVIN BULLIS Tuesday, October 2, 2012 .