Building the power for electric and hybrid cars

(NEWSCHANNEL 3) – Automakers have been rolling out the latest in hybrid and electric cars at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

One of the most talked about places at the auto show is Electric Avenue, where the latest in electric car technology is on display, and the thing putting a charge in the vehicles is being built in several spots in West Michigan.

"The Fusion Hybrid has been a big success this year," said Chantel Williams of Ford Motor Company. "We follow that up with the Focus Electric, will follow in 2011."

Both those Ford cars will be powered with lithium-ion batteries, some of which will be made by Johnson Controls in West Michigan.

"We are producing the cells right now," said Christian Rosenkranz of JCI, "in France with our partner Saft, then together with Saft we are going to introduce the technology in 2011, then in Holland, Michigan."

JCI is not the only company in West Michigan to make the batteries, LG Chem is building a new plant to build lithium-ion batteries for the Chevy Volt, Mann and Hummel in Portage and Toda America in Battle Creek are among the companies that will build parts for the batteries.

According to some reports, the batteries cost close to $10,000, and JCI says one of its next steps is to reduce the cost.

"With the economy of scale and the spread of the technology we are going to reduce the cost of the lithium-ion systems by 50 percent," said Rosenkranz.

Saving money is important for both car companies and U.S. taxpayers because stimulus money and other government programs are currently fueling the electric car technology.

"It really helps move the technology forward much faster than we could on our own," said Nick Cappa of Chrysler. "For instance, our plug-in hybrid vehicle program with the rams and the mini-vans is part of an alliance with the DOE, it's going to help us get the market much faster than we could on our own."

The lithium-ion batteries are being designed to last the lifetime of the car. Currently the requirements sit at about ten years and 150,000 miles.