Ford Motor Co. said Johnson Controls-Saft will supply the battery system for the automaker’s first production plug-in hybrid electric vehicle beginning in 2012.
The partnerships, being announced Tuesday at the Washington Auto Show, are part of Ford’s strategy to bring a battery-electric vehicle van to market in 2010 for commercial use, a small battery-electric sedan developed with Magna International by 2011 and a plug-in electric vehicle by 2012.
“As we move toward greater electrification of vehicles, we can achieve much more by working together toward a common goal,” said Sue Cischke, Ford’s group vice president for sustainability, environment and safety engineering.
The lithium-ion battery system being designed by Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls will include cells along with mechanical, electrical, electronic and thermal components.
Ford’s buying enough cells for 5,000 plug-in vehicles a year and will assemble them into auto battery packs in North America, says Nancy Gioia, Ford’s hybrid chief, but she wouldn’t specify where. Nor would she say what the plug-in vehicle would be.
Ford is demonstrating the technology in a 2009 Escape SUV.
Ford becomes the latest automaker to set a public deadline for offering the fuel-saving vehicles, known as PHEVs.
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