Bright thinks its a good IDEA to apply for DOE grants

Bright automotive not only introduced the IDEA PHEV van in Washington recently, but they also asked for grants. Bright applied for two grants from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009. The first one would be used to create a technical center for the design, development and validation of the batteries for the IDEA PHEV, as well as a battery pack manufacturing facility. The second one will be aimed to further develop a plug-in hybrid model. Bright states that this support will allow them to create 5,000 jobs. Bright says their experts in the battery field give them an advantage, since they've already worked in design, validation, and manufacturing experience on platforms including the EV1, Ford Fusion hybrid, Segway, and the GM two-mode hybrid. Michael Brylawski, Bright Automotive VP of Corporate Strategy, said in a statement that, "Arguably, no company in the U.S. has as much real-world automotive battery pack experience as the Bright Automotive team."

[Source: Bright Automotive]