PAGE 20 · www.autonewseurope.com November 26, 2007

Faurecia aids assembly of Dodge Avenger

CUSHION FRAME:LEGGETT & PLATT

DOOR INNER BELT:METZELER

CLEARCOAT:PPG INDUSTRIES

ENGINE COOLING FAN:NIDEC MOTORS AND ACTUATORS

FRONT END MODULE:FAURECIA

TRANSMISSION COMPONENTS:STACKPOLE

WHEELS:ALCOA, ARVINMERITOR, DICASTAL, SUPERIOR INDUSTRIES INTERNATIONAL

WHEEL AND TIRE ASSEMBLIES:ANDROID

AUDIO SYSTEM RADIOS:ALPINE ELECTRONICS, HARMAN/BECKER, SIEMENS VDO

HALF SHAFTS:GKN

ACOUSTIC ENGINE COVER:WOCO

ALUMINUM ENGINE BLOCK:NEMAK

PISTON & RING ASSEMBLY:HYUNDAI MOBIS

TENSIONER:GATES

WIRELESS CONTROL MODULE:OMRON

A/C ACCUMULATOR:TI AUTOMOTIVE

SHOCK ABSORBER:MONROE AUTO EQUIPMENT, TENNECO

WIPER MODULES:BOSCH

DASH ASSEMBLY:AZ AUTOMOTIVE

WIRING:YAZAKI

DAMPING PADS:AKSYS USA

CLUTCH:ZF FRIEDRICHSHAFEN

FASCIAS:LDM TECHNOLOGIES

GLASS:PILKINGTON, PPG

Faurecia is a big contributor to the new Dodge Avenger. The Frenchsupplier provides the front-end module, plus the shock absorptionand lighting systems. The parts are supplied to Dodge’s SterlingHeights, Michigan, factory from Faurecia’s new plant in the same US

town. Faurecia supplies seats from a second plant in Sterling Heights.ThyssenKrupp Presta supplies the car’s steering column shaft andintermediate steering shaft. Dodge wanted to add length adjustmentto the steering adjustment. ThyssenKrupp’s “tube-in-tube” column

spindle allows easy adjustment of the steering without a negativeeffect on the driving feel.

Steven Wingett

BASE SPEAKERS:PANASONIC

INTERIOR MIRRORS:GENTEX

CALIPER:AKEBONO

INFLATABLE CURTAIN:AUTOLIV

POWER SEAT ADJUSTER:BROSE

HEADREST:KONGSBERG

DECKLID & PROPS:STABILUS

LOCKSETS:STRATTEC

FILLER PIPE COATING:MAGNI GROUP

REAR SUSPENSION CRADLE:MODATEK SYSTEMS (COSMA)

DOOR CASSETTE MODULES:INTIER

TUFTED CARPET:RIETER

TAIL LAMPS:MERIDIAN

TIRES:BRIDGESTONE, FIRESTONE

SUSPENSION MODULE:TRW AUTOMOTIVE

CROSS-CAR ROOF BOW:NOBLE METAL PROCESSING

TECHNICAL ADHESIVE TAPES:SCAPA

WASHER PUMP:KAUTEX

STEERING COLUMN SHAFT:THYSSENKRUPP PRESTA

SEATING ATTACHMENTS FLANGEFORM NUTS:BAS COMPONENTS

WHEEL BEARINGS:NTN

Car Cutaway

Suppliers wanted: If you are a supplier and have questions or want your information considered for our cutaway features, contact Steven Wingett at automotivenews@supplierbusiness.com.

Safety is priority on lithium ion batteriesAutomakers, suppliers cau-tious after fires led to recalls

Richard TruettAutomotive News Europe

DETROIT � Automakers know a lot is riding on the lithium ion bat-teries that will power future hybridvehicles.

Consumers already may be wary oflithium ion batteries. Overheating bythose batteries led to fires in laptopcomputers and massive recalls. Butlithium ion batteries are seen as thenext leap in hybrid technology.

So the motto for carmakers devel-oping the technology is: Safety first.

The consequences of getting itwrong are simply unacceptable. Thefear is someone being injured orkilled. Even a less-severe accidentwould be intolerable.

If the lithium ion battery packs inhybrids overheat or catch fire, the le-gal costs could be enormous and thedamage to a company’s reputationhuge. It could be years before car buy-ers regain trust in the batteries.

With about half the weight andtwice the power of the nickel-metalhydride batteries powering today’shybrids, lithium ion batteries wouldlet a hybrid travel farther on electric-ity. They’ll boost fuel economy andreduce emissions. And they will makeplug-in hybrids possible.

Toyota was expected to use lithiumion batteries in the next-generationPrius in 2009. But the automakerchanged its mind this summer andsaid the next-generation Prius willkeep nickel-metal hydride batteries.

At General Motors’ battery lab insuburban Detroit, test machines run24 hours a day, charging and dis-charging lithium ion battery packs

from Johnson Controls-Saft, A123Systems, Compact Power and otherwould-be suppliers. GM pushes thebatteries to their limits and monitorsevery facet of their performance.

Ford Motor also is taking its timeevaluating the new batteries.

“Putting something out there thatisn’t right could destroy the image ofthe technology,” says Nancy Gioia,Ford’s director of sustainable mobili-ty technologies and hybrid vehicleprograms. “I’d love to be first, but mygoal is to get it right.”

GM has bet big on lithium ion bat-teries to power its Chevrolet Volt. GMbelieves the batteries will be ready forproduction by 2010 or 2011.

Batteries for Mercedes, BMW

GM, Ford, Toyota, Chrysler andothers are testing hybrid test fleetswith lithium ion batteries in severalcountries under extreme tempera-tures and varied driving conditions.

With Toyota postponing lithiumion batteries, Johnson Controls-Saftcould be first to market with them.

Next summer, the company plansto ship the batteries to Daimler foruse in a Mercedes mild hybrid sedanand then to BMW for a similar use.

Johnson Controls-Saft has batterycontracts with GM for a plug-in ver-sion of the Saturn Vue, and with sev-eral other automakers for lithium ionbatteries.

Johnson Controls-Saft is a French-American joint venture. JohnsonControls, a supplier best known forinterior components, also dominatesthe replacement lead-acid batterymarket with numerous brands sold atauto parts stores and dealerships.Saft, a giant French battery company,makes lithium ion batteries for mili-tary and industrial uses.

Two keys to safety with lithium ionbatteries:1. Manufacturing. The batteries must

be assembled in temperature-con-trolled, dust- and dirt-free plants thatare as clean as hospital operatingrooms. Even the slightest metal con-tamination inside the batteries couldlead to an internal short circuit.

2. The control system. The batteriesneed an electronic device to monitorcells and remove those with flaws.Johnson Controls-Saft makes the

batteries and binds them into ready-to-plug-in packs. Those packs have amanagement system that can be tai-lored to a specific vehicle.

That’s the company’s advantageover suppliers who make only batter-ies, says Johnson Controls’ MaryAnne Wright. She is general manag-er of Johnson Controls’ hybrid sys-

tems group and heads Johnson Con-trols-Saft Advanced Power Solutions.

Craig Rigby, Johnson Controls-Saftvice president of systems engineer-ing for hybrid battery systems saysbattery safety systems are more com-plex for lithium ion battery packsthan for nickel-metal hybrids.

A Toyota Prius, Rigby says, moni-tors the battery pack as a unit, butthat may not be the safest approachfor lithium ion batteries.

“The challenge with lithium ion is alittle different from what you do withnickel-metal hydride. It really de-mands that you monitor certain char-acteristics at the cell level,” he says.

If one cell overheats because of acooling issue, voltage spike or manu-facturing flaw, it can start a fire thatspreads to other cells. The sixth-gen-eration Johnson Controls-Saft system

isolates a cell to prevent overheating.Says Rigby: “The software will say,

‘if I see a cell that is getting too higha voltage or temperature, I will takeaction.’ If eventually we need to shutdown the system, we will.”

At its US battery laboratory nearMilwaukee, Wisconsin, JohnsonControls is preparing its prototypebattery technology, battery manage-ment systems and mass-productionprocedures. A pilot production linelets engineers work with Saft coun-terparts to fine-tune mass-manufac-turing for car-sized lithium ion cells.

Saft has experience in making verylarge lithium ion batteries for mili-tary uses. The challenge for JohnsonControls, and other companies, is todevelop a way to build the batteriesquickly, at low cost, in a package thatfits cars and light trucks. ANE

A plug-in version of the Saturn Vue will use lithium ion batteries.

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