Governor signs battery tax breaks

By Rick Pluta, Michigan Public Radio Network

Lansing, MI – Lansing, MI (MPRN) - Governor Granholm says Michigan will use big tax breaks to aggressively court alternative energy entrepreneurs.

She has signed into law tax credits worth hundreds of millions of dollars to battery researchers and manufacturers.

The governor says Asia is currently the major producer of automotive batteries, including the one that powers the still-experimental Chevy Volt.

The tax credits will also help businesses win federal alternative energy research grants.

Granholm and other state officials say if Michigan succeeds in becoming the center of next-generation battery research and production, it will remain the center of the domestic auto industry.