Electric-car maker says it's fully American

Oct 29 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Dan Gearino The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio

Coda Automotive is an American company through and through, with headquarters in California and possibly a factory in Columbus to make batteries for electric cars, said CEO Kevin Czinger.

He was responding to a report this week that Coda's attempt to get a federal loan has been slowed because officials had concerns about the role of a Chinese partner company.

"We should not let fear control us," he said. "This is a win-win."

The plant, which would employ as many as 2,000 workers, would be operated by Lio Energy Systems. According to Czinger, Lio is majority-owned and -managed by people in the United States. A Chinese company, Lishen Power Battery, owns less than 40percent and would not take an active role in management.

On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said the loan application had hit a "minor roadblock" because of issues related to who would own and control the plant. "I've got to think there is a way Coda can work this out," he said.

Brown has been a leading supporter of the project, and he is confident that the loan will be approved, said spokeswoman Lauren Kulik.

In China, Coda is part of a joint venture with Lishen that operates a battery plant. That venture is called Lio, just like in the United States, but it is a separate company with a separate ownership structure, Czinger said.

Coda is seeking a loan of more than $500million from the Department of Energy. The money would be the largest component of financing for a plant that would make battery packs for an all-electric sedan.

The project touches on sensitive issues, such as Ohio's desperate need for manufacturing jobs and the feeling among many elected officials that China's economic policies have contributed to an exodus of jobs from the U.S.

But the Coda project does not fit neatly into the pattern that led to previous criticism. In this case, a Chinese company is working with an American one to bring jobs to the United States, not take them away.

"It's a balancing act, a question of how do we maximize the domestic content and the jobs for this massive investment," said Robert Scott, a senior economist for the Economic Policy Institute, a research group that has frequently accused China of harmful trade practices.

Scott supports the federal government's loans for advanced-energy vehicles, including those to companies that have foreign investors or owners. At the same time, he thinks the government is correct to scrutinize a project with Chinese ties.

"It has been shown repeatedly that (China is) intervening in unfair ways in the international trading system," he said.

The Department of Energy has shown that it is willing to help projects that involve foreign companies. The largest example might be Japan-based Nissan receiving a $1.4billion loan to build a battery plant in Tennessee. The loan comes from the same program that Coda hopes to use.

Czinger thinks his company can lead the way in showing how American and Chinese companies can work toward common goals.

"Instead of having battery manufacturing here on a small scale and transferring it to China to scale up, we are actually working in the reverse way and linking that innovation with jobs," he said.

dgearino@dispatch.com