Due to increasing global demand for automotive batteries for environmentally friendly start-stop technology, Johnson Controls, Inc. (Milwaukee, WI) is investing $100 million to build a start-stop vehicle battery plant in China. The plant will supply global and local automakers in Asia and is expected to start production in early 2013 with annual capacity of 2.4 million units.

"We project that China will continue to be the fastest growing market for automobiles through the end of this decade. At the same time, interest in the environment and more energy efficient vehicles is driving many of our OE customers to add start-stop vehicles to their fleets," said Kim Metcalf-Kupres, vice president strategy, sales and marketing at Johnson Controls Power Solutions. The company is exploring several potential locations for the new plant and expects to make a final decision in the coming months.

Johnson Controls anticipates the market for start-stop vehicles will grow to 35 million globally by 2015. To support this rapid growth, the company is investing $520 million worldwide over the next four years in additional production capacity for start-stop batteries: $280 million in Germany, an additional $140 million in the United States, as well as the $100 million in China.

Johnson Controls is currently the leading supplier of start-stop batteries in Europe through its VARTA brand. In Germany, the company's plants in Hanover and Zwickau produce more than 11 million start-stop batteries annually. The company is also adding 6.8 million units of capacity in the United States.-[email protected]