Area Development
Johnson Controls, Inc. has announced plans to invest $138.5 million to convert its battery plant near Toledo, Ohio into an Absorbent Glass Mat (AGM) battery facility for Start-Stop and other high efficiency vehicles.

Pending final state and local approvals, Johnson Controls will receive a combination of tax credits and incentives from the state of Ohio totaling $25 million. Construction is scheduled to begin this summer and the first line will launch production in spring 2012.

Johnson Controls' investment will add 6 million in AGM battery capacity to the company's North American AGM footprint by 2013. The expansion will create 50 new jobs and retain 400 existing jobs in the community.

Start-Stop is a technology applied to a standard gasoline-powered vehicle that automatically shuts the engine off during idle, reducing fuel use and emissions by 5 percent to 12 percent, and restarts when the driver engages the clutch or releases the brake pedal.