Trump’s Energy Department is proposing to cut billions in grants to General Motors, Ford and several startups

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

The proposed cuts would eliminate 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 been made public. All of the proposed cuts are grants awarded under the bipartisan infrastructure bill. The proposed cancellations, many of which have not been previously reported, come in addition to more than $7.5 billion worth of contracts that the Trump administration said it would cancel last week.

Startups may not be the only losers. Other companies set 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 to TechCrunch that these cuts are proposed.

At least GM might lose $500 million in grant money Issued by the Federal Domestic Manufacturing Transformation Grant Program. The money was to be used to retool the Lansing Grand River Assembly Plant in Michigan. The automaker announced in July 2024 that it plans to produce electric cars, including hybrids, at the plant.

Some awards are important, and if they are reduced, it will undoubtedly affect the operations of startups. Many of them were included in the list of proposed cuts leaked last week, but many are new and have not yet been announced. TechCrunch has reached out to several companies and will update this article if they respond.

Two cutting board prizes reached $100 million, including a $189 million prize awarded to materials startup Brimstone. The money was supposed to help 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 building 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 LFP battery recycling infrastructure bill in an effort to wrest part of that supply chain from China.

There are other cement startups on the list as well. Somerville, Massachusetts-based Sublime Systems has been awarded an $86.9 million award to build an ultra-low carbon cement plant. Mountain View-based Forno, which makes a new modular cement kiln, will lose a $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, will lose $15 million and $31 million, respectively.

At least one of the proposed repeals appears to conflict with the administration’s goals related to energy and AI dominance. TS Conductor, which could lose $28.2 million in grant money, makes advanced conductors for electrical lines that promise to double or triple the capacity of existing transmission lines. This technology can reduce bottlenecks on the grid and improve the likelihood that data centers will receive power sooner.