Johnson Controls and Saft to build lithium ion battery plant in France

Johnson Controls and Saft have a partnership to produce lithium ion batteries for automotive applications. Among other projects they are one of the two suppliers chosen for GM's Saturn Vue plug-in hybrid program. Saft has also provided lithium ion battery packs for concept vehicles such as the Chevy Sequel and Ford HySeries drive Edge. The two companies are opening a new plant in Nersac, France to manufacture lithium batteries for a variety of car-makers including Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler and General Motors. The €15million plant has an initial capacity of 5,000 packs a year and will be able to scale up as demand increases. It is believed to be the first plant to be dedicated to automotive lithium ion batteries.
[Source: Financial Times]