Midwest Still Holds Promise For Hybrid Auto Industry

Midwest Still Holds Promise For Hybrid Auto Industry

Executives from the Ford Motor Company, on hand in Milwaukee for the opening of the 2009 Milwaukee Auto Show, say that the company is in a good position to begin and sustain hybrid vehicle and electric vehicle production in the Midwest. Robert Iorio, a Ford executive in propulsion implementation, says that some midwestern suppliers are likely to be busy in the next five years meeting the company's demands for hybrid power train components and accessories designed especially for HEVs and EVs.

Iorio says that the company is especially interested in air conditioning systems and electric steering systems, both of which need to be developed and mass produced at a competitive price. Ford plans to bring a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle to the market by 2012, and plans to expand its hybrid vehicle line. The Ford Fusion hybrid, which created waves last month, will hit the dealer showrooms in March with a price tag just shy of $28,000. The car is rated at 41 mpg in the city and 36 mpg on the highway and just slightly outdoes the rival Toyota Camry hybrid, which is rated at 33/34 with a price tag of about $26,000.

At the top of the Blue Oval's wish list is domestic Li-ion battery production capability. Earlier this month, Ford signed a production contract with Johnson Controls-Saft for Li-ion batteries for its PHEV program. Ford has not yet said what type of vehicle its first PHEV will be, but the company has been testing modified Escape Hybrids in Southern California for about two years. The company has publicly committed to making smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles, so an Escape PHEV is not a given.

Johnson Controls-Saft has said that it will eventually bring its Li-ion battery production to the US, but for the foreseeable future, the battery cells will be produced at a facility in France and shipped to the US for final assembly. The company has not said where it plans to locate its US battery production facilities. The company has automotive divisions located in Alabama, California, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin.

Executives from Ford say that while the automakers strongly support domestic battery production capabilities, the auto industry requires help from Washington to encourage battery research and development, and offset high start-up and operational costs one production facilities are in place.

Photo Credit: Jeramey Jannene