Ford picks Johnson Controls-Saft to supply batteries for PHEV Escapes
Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Ford, Green Daily
When Ford handed over the keys to a plug-in Escape hybrid to Southern California Edison last December, one of many secrets the companies kept to themselves was which battery maker was responsible for the lithium-ion batteries fulfilling the electric part of the equation. The company has now been revealed and it's Johnson Controls-Saft, which has a dedicated li-ion battery plant in France. Johnson Controls will be providing the li-ion batteries for all of the PHEV Escapes for Ford's demonstration fleet (including those at the Electric Power Research Institute) as it grows from the one or two on the road today to 20 in the coming year and a half. More PHEV Escapes will be delivered to the utilities later this month, and future versions will be tweaked and updated as data comes in from the daily drives. More from Ford after the jump.
Besides automotive interiors and batteries for hybrid vehicles, Johnson Controls is also in the business of facility management and control systems. As part of that effort, the company is partnering with Nexterra Energy of Vancouver, British Columbia. Nexterra has developed biomass gasification systems that can produce synthetic gas from a wide variety of feedstocks. The gasification systems will be installed in factories, warehouses, educational facilities and other buildings to provide heat and drive generators for electricity. The flexibility of the system allows many types of locally available materials to be used in place of fossil fuels. 
Paris Preview: Honda Insight concept to be new global hybrid
BREAKING: Is this the production Chevy Volt in Transformers 2?
Spy Shot: Production interior of Chevy Volt (maybe)
Pics aplenty: 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid
Paris Preview: Chevy Cruze official pics released
Honda to debut Prius-fighter concept this Thursday
New Ford EcoBoost 3.5L V6 engine smiles for the camera
