Bayer's 400-acre chemical park development is the future home of fortu PowerCell, a $623 million, 734-job advanced battery plant planned by a Swiss-German startup company. Groundbreaking for the initial 100,000-square-foot manufacturing facility is expected in April 2011.

"Batteries are important to our future," said the Republican candidate, who faces the Democratic nominee, Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, in the Nov. 2 general election. "Our automotive industry is critical to the state."

The fortu PowerCell development was brought to Muskegon Township in part by a special $100 million state battery tax credit that was supported earlier this year by Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm, the Republican-led Michigan Senate and Democratic-led House of Representatives.

Several of the candidates in the Republican primary for governor opposed special tax breaks for certain industries as "picking winners and losers."

Snyder's plan to "reinvent Michigan" includes reform of the Michigan Economic Development Corp., which hands out special incentives such as the battery tax credits.

Snyder's campaign platform says such assistance needs to be results-oriented, transparent and in conjunction with general business-climate improvements in tax policy and state regulation. (emphasis added)

One other, and crucial question about those batteries, who is Snyder planing on selling those new advanced batteries to? I hope its not Toyota, because they are having a tough time selling the Prius in Japan due to the ending of their government's subsidies for hybrid vehicles.

The Prius hybrid has spearheaded sales growth for Toyota Motor Corp. in Japan for more than a year, helped by government subsidies. The model will likely bear the brunt of plunging demand as the support ends.

"A collapse in sales is unavoidable," said Hiromi Inoue, the new-car sales chief for Tokyo Toyopet Motor Sales Co. "The daily pace of orders for the Prius is already dropping. We are bracing ourselves for the coming crisis."

The number of customers signing up to buy a Prius at Tokyo Toyopet's 66 showrooms has dropped to about eight a day from 20 in June, Inoue said. Industrywide, car sales in Japan are expected to plunge 23 percent in the six months beginning in October from a year earlier, according to the Japan Automobile Dealers Association.

Demand for the Prius surged after the third-generation model went on sale in May 2009 and the government introduced the incentive plan a month later. Under the program, consumers can apply for a 250,000 yen ($2,963) subsidy if they scrap a car more than 13 years old to buy a more fuel- efficient one, or 100,000 yen for a new car bought without scrapping the older one. (emphasis added)

And, by the way, the Prius is not the only eco-car that has rough looking sales forecast numbers.