MILWAUKEE Johnson Controls has announced plans to invest $138.5 million to convert its battery plant near Toledo, Ohio, into an Absorbent Glass Mat (AGM) battery facility for Start-Stop and other high-efficiency vehicles. Subject to final state and local incentives, the facility will be the company’s first such plant in the United States.
Start-Stop is a technology applied to a standard gasoline-powered vehicle that automatically shuts the engine off during idle, reducing fuel use and emissions by 5 percent to 12 percent, and restarts when the driver engages the clutch or releases the brake pedal.
Johnson Controls’ investment will add 6 million in AGM battery capacity to the company’s North American AGM footprint by 2013.