The United States Advanced Battery Consortium LLC (USABC), an organization jointly operated by Chrysler, Ford and GM, has awarded a $5.48 million contract to Johnson Controls Inc. for the development of lithium-ion battery technology for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs).
The two-year program, which is a 50/50 cost-share contract between the USABC and the U.S. Department of Energy, is aimed at increasing the volumetric energy density of hard-cased prismatic cell technology that USABC and Johnson Controls have already developed. A higher energy density will reduce the volume, mass and cost of these cells, the companies say.
This new contract is USABC's third with Johnson Controls.
