Ener1 Battery Co. (Fort Lauderdale, FL) announced that it has repaid the Italian Ministry of Industry $5.2 million in connection with a grant anticipation that was forfeited by the company's decision to move its battery operations to the US. The repayment finalizes the settlement of all grant obligations in Sardinia Grant 488 and the La Spezia Area Contract.
Mike Zoi, president of Ener1, stated, “We are pleased to finalize our Italian grant process in connection with our decision to move battery operations from Italy to the US. We believe that our long-term business interests will be best served by relocating our operations to the US. The US represents 60 percent of our target customer base. We expect to begin production of our high-energy-density batteries in Fort Lauderdale during the fourth quarter of this year.”
Jonathan New, Ener1's COO, said, “This repayment finalizes our successful settlement in Italy with all of our suppliers. We appreciate the efforts of our Italian associates and regret we were unable to come to a successful conclusion in Italy due to a difficult situation we encountered with the Ministry of Industry and their administrators."
