New Facility in Livonia, Mich. Significantly Expands A123's Production Capabilities to Meet Increasing Global Demand; Company Expects to Create Thousands of Jobs in Michigan
LIVONIA, Mich., Sept. 13, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A123 Systems (Nasdaq:AONE), a developer and manufacturer of advanced Nanophosphate™ lithium ion batteries and systems, today announced the grand opening of the largest lithium ion automotive battery production facility in North America, based on available data. The new plant in Livonia, Mich. is expected to expand A123's manufacturing capabilities by up to 600MW hours per year when fully operational, contributing to the company's plan to expand global final cell assembly capacity to more than 760MW hours annually by the end of 2011. The opening of the Livonia factory comes just over one year after A123 was awarded a $249 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help the company execute its strategy to ramp up U.S. manufacturing capabilities to meet increasing, market-driven demand for its innovative technologies.