Johnson Controls to Build Battery Plant in Michigan

It’s pretty bad when Wisconsin is losing business to Michigan.

Johnson Controls Inc. (JCI) on Tuesday announced that it will open its first U.S.-based production facility for lithium-ion batteries in Holland, Mich., which will create 500 jobs using $148.5 million in Michigan tax credits and incentives.

The Michigan Economic Growth Authority approved a package of tax credits to a group of four makers of batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles.

Glendale-based Johnson Controls, through its battery joint venture with France-based Saft SA, won a package of tax incentives valued at $100 million and another $48.5 million in other Michigan state incentives, said Mary Ann Wright, who leads the Johnson Controls-Saft venture. It will renovate and retrofit an existing Johnson Controls manufacturing site in Holland at a cost of $220 million, the company said. It will have an initial capacity of 15 million lithium-ion cells.

Wright emphasized that Johnson Controls remains committed to keeping its battery engineering, research and development at the joint venture’s hybrid-battery engineering labs in Glendale, adjacent to the corporation’s international headquarters.