Coda Abandons Plan to Build Li Ion Plant in Columbus, Ohio

The Columbus Dispatch reported that Coda Automotive is abandoning plans to build a Li-ion battery factory in Columbus. The company has been waiting for the US Department of Energy (DOE) to act on its $500-million loan application to help pay for construction.

Since Coda applied for the loan, the Department of Energy has come under fire for its loan to Solyndra, a maker of solar panels that later went bankrupt, and for aid to other electric car companies. Amid this criticism, the agency has made almost no new loans, and some lawmakers have called for changes to the programs.

...Coda leaders said in recent months that they remained hopeful about the loan, but that they had developed a business plan that would work without the Ohio plant.