The Department of Energy is aiming to cut billions of dollars in federal funding, and many promising startups and automakers, Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, could be affected by the Trump administration's decision.
The proposed cuts would cancel more than $500 million contracts awarded to more than a dozen startups, according to TechCrunch analysis of internal documents that have not yet been published. All proposed cuts are grants awarded under the bipartisan infrastructure law. The proposed cancellation comes in addition to more than $7.5 billion in contracts that the Trump administration said would cut it last week, many of which have not been previously reported.
Maybe the startup isn't the only loser. Other companies that are planning to lose hundreds of millions of dollars worth of grants are expected to lose hundreds of millions of dollars worth of grants, according to documents viewed by TechCrunch. The sources identified in TechCrunch are the cuts that are proposed.
General Motors could lose at least $500 million in grants issued from the Federal Domestic Manufacturing Grant Program. The funds were to be used to remodel the Lansing Grand River Assembly plant in Michigan. The automaker announced in July 2024 that it had planned to produce electrified vehicles, including hybrids, at the factory.
Some of the awards are important and if cut, they will definitely affect the operation of the startup. Some were included in the list of proposed cuts leaked last week, but many are new and have not yet been announced. TechCrunch has reached out to several companies and will update this article if you reply.
Two awards at the Chopping Block exceeded $100 million. This includes the $189 million award award given to materials startup Brimstone. These funds helped build a plant to produce Portland cement, alumina and other materials using less carbon dioxide.
The other went to Anovion, a Chicago-based startup that works to build a factory to produce a domestic supply of synthetic graphite for lithium-ion batteries. Currently, Chinese companies dominate the graphite market.
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Battery materials startup Li Industries has received $55.2 million under the bipartisan infrastructure law to recycle LFP batteries to take away some of the supply chain from China.
Other cement startups are also on the list. Based in the Massachusetts sublime system, Somerville has received a $86.9 million award for building an ultra-low carbon cement plant. Mountain View-based furniture making modular cement kilns making novels loses a $20 million grant to build a demonstration in Chicago.
Several building materials companies were also on the list. Cleanfiber and Hempitecture, which make insulation for home and commercial buildings, risk losing $10 million and $8.4 million, respectively. Skyven Technologies, which manufactures industrial heat pumps, and Luxwall, which make ultra-insulated windows, lose $15 million and $31 million, respectively.
At least one of the proposed cancellations appears to reduce the administration's goal of energy and AI domination. A potentially losing $28.2 million in grant money, TS conductors create sophisticated conductors for electrical lines that promise double or triple capacity as existing transmission lines. This technology can reduce bottlenecks on the grid and improve the likelihood of receiving data center power faster.