Subsidiary of Korea’s LG Chem to build electric Ford Focus batteries

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Korea’s LG Chem wins Ford Focus battery pack deal

DEARBORN, Mich. — Ford Motor Co. has picked a subsidiary of Korean battery maker LG Chem to supply battery packs for an electric version of the Ford Focus that will hit showrooms sometime next year.

The subsidiary, Compact Power Inc., is building a lithium-ion battery factory in Holland, Mich., near Grand Rapids that also will supply cells for the Chevrolet Volt rechargeable electric car.

Initially the battery cells will be made in South Korea by LG Chem and shipped to the U.S., where Compact Power, based in Troy, Mich., is looking for a site to assemble them into packs.

Once the Holland factory is up and running, the cells and packs will be produced in the U.S., Ford said.

Ford’s assembly plant in Wayne, Mich., near Detroit, will build a new version of the Focus.

Ford says it expects the electric Focus to have a range of up to 100 miles on a single charge.

The company plans to have five electric or gas-electric hybrid vehicles in the U.S. by 2012 including the Focus, the Transit Connect small commercial van, two unidentified hybrids and a rechargeable hybrid electric vehicle that also hasn’t been named.

President Barack Obama will travel to Holland on Thursday for the groundbreaking ceremony at the Compact Power factory.

Compact Power received $151 million from a stimulus program announced last August to open the $303 million plant, which is expected to produce lithium ion cells and employ about 450 people by 2013, the White House said.