JCI boosts production of stop-start batteries - Automotive News
By 2020, the supplier expects 40 percent of light vehicles produced in North America will have stop-start systems, up from 10 to 12 percent this year. To prepare for the surge, the Milwaukee-based company is expanding its factory in Toledo, Ohio, where it produces absorbent glass mat (AGM) batteries. These batteries, which cost 50 percent more than conventional lead-acid starter batteries, are optimized for the demands of stop-start systems. The Toledo plant launched production of AGM batteries in 2012. By 2016, Johnson Controls' total investment in the Toledo plant will rise to $130 million. The company expects automakers in North America will emulate Western European automakers, where stop-start systems already account for 60 percent of the market. "Most automakers in North America already use AGM batteries in Europe," Craig Rigby, JCI's technology strategist, said on the sidelines of the CAR Management Briefing Seminars. The company already produces AGM batteries for at least two high-volume vehicles in the U. S. market -- some models of the Ford F-150 and the Chevrolet Malibu. Now that automakers are introducing stop-start systems, Rigby says the next step is to add a second battery -- a 12-volt lithium ion unit -- to store electricity from regenerative brakes. Eventually automakers will adopt 48-volt batteries that can supply electricity for air conditioning compressors, electric power steering and other vehicle systems. Source: www.autonews.com
