Battery Maker A123 Systems’ Bankruptcy by the Numbers

Battery maker A123 Systems filed for bankruptcy Tuesday, saying that the Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Johnson Controls would be taking over its automotive operations in a deal valued at $125 million. This past August, A123 had arranged for Chinese auto parts company Wanxiang Group to invest $450 million, but that deal fell apart amid what A123 CEO David Vieau called “unanticipated and significant challenges.” (See full National Geographic News story: “A123 Bankruptcy Underscores Hurdles for U.S. Clean Tech“)

The Wanxiang deal may not be dead, though: BloombergBusinessweek reported Wednesday that Wanxiang is still interested in acquiring A123. Wanxiang executive Ni Pin offered this colorful quote: “Bankruptcy court is like a filter that lets a dirty big boy covered with mud go through it and turn himself into a clean boy. Even though the boy may become smaller, he doesn’t have the obligations he used to have.”

Here’s a look at A123 Systems’ situation by the numbers:

$6 million: Grant money awarded to A123 under the George W. Bush administration’s Department of Energy in 2007.

$249.1 million: Grant money awarded in 2008 by the Obama administration’s DOE to help A123 set up battery manufacturing in Michigan.

$125 million: Level of support provided to A123 from the state of Michigan through tax credits and grants.

$132 million: Amount that A123 has spent from the $249.1 million Energy Department grant awarded in 2009.

$1: Amount that A123 was required to spend from its own funds for every dollar received from the government.

$380 million: Amount that A123 raised in its 2009 initial public offering.

1,7643: Number of active A123 employees

5: Percentage of A123’s total revenue derived from government contracts and subcontracts during the 2011 calendar year

8: Percentage of A123’s research, development, and engineering expenses funded by government contracts and subcontracts last year.

$143.8 million: Value of notes expiring in 2016 on which A123 failed to make interest payments due Monday.

14: Number of consecutive quarters in which A123 has reported losses.

10: Total number of A123 facilities in the U.S., China, and Germany.

$51.6 million: A123’s estimate of costs it would incur replacing battery packs and modules containing defective prismatic cells produced at the company’s Livonia, Michigan, facility.

26: Percentage of A123’s 2011 revenue from struggling plug-in hybrid vehicle maker Fisker Automotive.

$459.8 million: Total value of assets listed in A123’s bankruptcy filling.

$376 million: Total debt listed in A123’s bankruptcy filing.

$600: Amount by which A123 said its new technology, nanophosphate EXT, announced in June 2012, would slash battery costs for electric vehicles.

50,000: Number of electric vehicles sold since 2011, about 5 percent of President Obama’s goal of 1 million EVs on U.S. roads by 2015.