Trump’s DOE proposes slicing billions in grants for GM, Ford, and plenty of startups

The Department of Energy is looking to cut billions more in federal funding, and many promising startups as well as automakers Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis could be affected by the Trump administration’s decision.

The proposed cuts would cancel more than $500 million of contracts awarded to more than a dozen startups, according to a TechCrunch analysis of a internal document that has not become public yet. All of the proposed cuts are grants that had been awarded under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The proposed cancelations, many of which have not been reported before, come on top of more than $7.5 billion in contracts the Trump administration said it would cut last week.

Startups might not be the only losers. Other companies slated to lose grants worth hundreds of millions of dollars include Daimler Trucks North America, Ford, General Motors, Harley-Davidson, Mercedes-Benz Vans, Stellantis, and Volvo Technology of America, according to the document viewed by TechCrunch. Sources confirmed with TechCrunch these are proposed cuts.

General Motors could lose at least $500 million in grant money issued from a federal Domestic Manufacturing Conversion Grant program. The money was going to be used to retool the Lansing Grand River Assembly Plant in Michigan. The automaker announced in July 2024 it planned to produce electrified vehicles, including hybrids at the plant.

Some of the awards are significant and, if cut, will undoubtedly affect the startups’ operations. Several were included in a list of proposed cuts that leaked last week, but many are new and have yet to be announced. TechCrunch has reached out to several of the companies and will update this article if they reply.

Two awards on the chopping block topped $100 million, including a $189 million award granted to materials startup Brimstone. Those funds would have helped the company 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 is working to build a factory to produce a domestic supply of synthetic graphite for lithium-ion batteries. Currently, Chinese companies dominate the graphite market.

Battery materials startup Li Industries received $55.2 million under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to recycle LFP batteries in an attempt to wrest part of that supply chain from China.

Other cement startups are on the list, too. Somerville, Massachusetts-based Sublime Systems was given an award for $86.9 million to build an ultra-low-carbon cement plant. Mountain View-based Furno, which is making a novel, modular cement kiln, would lose its $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 homes and commercial buildings, are at risk of losing $10 million and $8.4 million each. Skyven Technologies, which makes industrial heat pumps, and Luxwall, which makes super-insulated windows, would lose $15 million and $31 million respectively. 

At least one of the proposed cancelations seemingly cuts against the administration’s goals of energy and AI dominance. TS Conductor, which could lose $28.2 million in grant money, makes advanced conductors for electric lines that promise to double or triple capacity on existing transmission lines. The technology could reduce bottlenecks on the grid and improve data centers’ likelihood of receiving power sooner.