The Department of Energy is considering cutting even billions of dollars in federal funds, and many promising startups could be affected by the Trump administration’s decision, as well as automakers like Ford, General Motors and Stellantis.
TechCrunch analyzed an internal document that has not yet been published and found that the proposed cuts would cancel more than $500 million contracts it had signed with a dozen startups. All proposed cuts are grants granted under the bipartisan infrastructure law. Many of the proposed cancellations have not been reported so far, but will be proposed in addition to the more than $7.5 billion contract the Trump administration announced last week to cut.
Startups may not be the only losers. Other companies that are set to lose hundreds of millions of dollars worth of subsidies include Daimler Truck North America, Ford, General Motors, Harley-Davidson, Mercedes-Benz Vans, Stellantis and Volvo Technology of America, according to documents viewed by TechCrunch. Sources confirmed with TechCrunch that they were proposed to reduce the number.
General Motors could lose at least $500 million in grants issued from the federal government’s domestic manufacturing conversion grant program. The funds were to be used to renovate the Lansing Grand River assembly plant in Michigan. In July 2024, the company announced plans to produce electric vehicles, including hybrid vehicles, at the plant.
Some awards are important, and if cuts are made it will definitely affect the startup’s management. Some of the list of cuts leaked last week were included, but many have been new and have not yet been announced. TechCrunch has contacted several companies and will update this article if they receive a response.
Two awards on the cutting board exceeded $100 million, including the $189 million awarded to materials startup Brimstone. Those funds would have helped the company build a factory that uses less carbon dioxide to produce Portland cement, alumina and other materials.
The other was from Anovion, a Chicago-based startup that is working to build a factory to produce artificial graphite for lithium-ion batteries domestically. Currently, the graphite market is dominated by Chinese companies.
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Battery materials startup Lee Industries has received $55.2 million for recycling LFP batteries under bipartisan infrastructure laws, seeking to take part in its supply chain from China.
Other cement startups are also on the list. Sublime Systems, based in Summerville, Massachusetts, won a $86.9 million prize for the construction of its ultra-low carbon cement plant. Fano, based in Mountain View and manufacturing innovative modular cement kilns, will lose $20 million in subsidies to build a demonstration plant in Chicago.
Several building materials companies were also listed. CleanFiber and Hempitecture, which manufacture insulation for residential and commercial buildings, risk losing $10 million and $8.4 million, respectively. Skyben Technologies, which manufactures industrial heat pumps, and Luxwall, which manufactures ultra-insulated windows, will lose $15 million and $31 million, respectively.
At least one of the proposed cancellations appears to violate the administration’s goal of energy and AI advantage. TS Conductor is likely to lose $28.2 million in grants, but it manufactures advanced conductors for transmission lines that can double or triple the capacity of existing transmission lines. This technology may reduce bottlenecks on the grid and increase the likelihood that data centers will receive power more quickly.
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