following a competition for clean energy leaders, vice president biden announced that a 123 was one of the 48 companies to win a recovery act grant for advanced battery technology. that grant helped hire a123 hire 144 new workers. that grant is supporting production of three new plants in michigan. which a123 expects will allow it to hire more than 120 workers by the end of this year, more than 1,000 by the end of next year and more than 3,000 by the end of 2012. two of those workers, james fenten and nino. they lost their jobs in the recession. a123 hired them to help manufacture batteries of tomorrow. a123 already had begun construction in one city, the city of levonia, ready to go online in july.