Trump’s DOE proposes cutting billions in subsidies for GM, Ford and many startups

The Department of Energy is seeking to cut billions of dollars 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 in contracts awarded to more than a dozen startups, according to a TechCrunch analysis of an internal document that has not yet become public. All of the proposed cuts are grants that were awarded under the bipartisan infrastructure law. The proposed cancellations, many of which had not been previously reported, come on top of more than $7.5 billion in contracts that the Trump administration said it would cut last week.

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

General Motors could lose at least $500 million in subsidies issued from a federal domestic manufacturing conversion grant program. The money was going to be used to revamp the Lansing Grand River Assembly Plant in Michigan. The automaker announced in July 2024 that it plans to produce electrified vehicles, including hybrids at the factory.

Some rewards are significant and, if cut, will undoubtedly affect startup operations. Several were included in a list of proposed cuts that leaked last week, but many are new and have not yet been announced. TechCrunch has contacted several of the companies and will update this article if they respond.

Two awards on the cutting block topped $100 million, including a $189 million award to Material Startup Brimstone. Those funds would have helped the company build a factory 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 startup Li Industries received $55.2 million under the bipartisan Infrastructure Act to recycle LFP batteries to shut down part of that supply chain in China.

Other cement startups are also on the list. Sublime Systems Somerville, Massachusetts, received an $86.9 million award to build an ultra-low-carbon cement plant. Mountain View-based Furno, which is making a new modular cement kiln, would lose its $20 million grant to build a demonstration in Chicago.

Several building materials companies were also on the list. Cleaning and Chan Supported, which makes insulation for homes and commercial buildings, stands to lose $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 rollbacks appears to reflect the administration’s energy and AI dominance goals. TS Conductor, which could lose $28.2 million in subsidies, makes advanced conductors for power lines that promise to double or triple capacity on existing transmission lines. The technology could reduce network bottlenecks and improve the likelihood of data centers receiving power sooner.