Ford Motor Company is jumping into the green technology pool with its two feet. It plans to build battery packs for its new generation of electric vehicles at its Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti Township.

“This is a huge deal for our plant and the community,” said local President Donnie Enersen. “Ford Motor Co. is taking a giant step in green technology, and we applaud them. As for Ford spokeswoman Jennifer Moore said, “We are excited about our plans to bring battery pack development and assembly to Michigan, and will share more details soon.”

In January, Ford announced that it would bring production of battery packs for its hybrid and plug-in vehicles in-house by 2012, which will include the engineering and design as well. At the same time, Ford also announced plans to build a hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery electric version of the Ford Focus compact at its Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne.

Currently, Ford is using battery packs assembled by Delphi using cells from Sanyo. Ford will still continue to buy cells from suppliers, and it will only design and packaging the battery packs in-house.

The current Ford Focus fuel economy rating is about 39 miles per gallon, so expect the 2012 Ford Focus electric/hybrid to put out at least 55 miles per gallon. We are not sure if Ford will only build a pure electric Ford Focus or it will also have a hybrid version. Stay tune…more electric juice info will be leaked in a few months.

Source Detroit News