A123 Filing Shows Struggle Extending MIT Smarts to Factories

A123 Systems Inc., the electric-car battery maker that filed for bankruptcy this week, had promising chemistry and marquee customers. What it couldn’t overcome, even with government funding, were missteps in manufacturing.

A123’s filing immediately became a presidential campaign issue, because the Obama administration pledged $249.1 million in grants three years earlier to help the company bring jobs and factories to the U.S. Republican Mitt Romney’s campaign pointed to the bankruptcy as an example of President Barack Obama’s failures in economic policy.