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Johnson Controls Inc., the world’s largest maker of automotive batteries, has opened a laboratory to develop batteries for hybrid-electric vehicles. The move comes as Toyota Motor Corp. and Ford Motor Co. say they will increase sales of those models.
The $4 million facility in Milwaukee will focus on longer-lasting lithium-ion batteries to replace the nickel-metal-hydride batteries that are now most commonly used in hybrid-electric vehicles, the supplier said Wednesday.
Ford said last week it plans a tenfold increase in hybrid-electric vehicles, to 250,000 annually, by the end of the decade. Toyota said it plans to make as many as 400,000 hybrids next year.
