A123's Local Boss: No Battery Glut Here

Jason Forcier has a message for the electric car skeptics -- the ones who worry that there are too many automotive battery production plants like the one in Livonia he leads for Massachusetts-based A123.

"Right now our capacity is sold out through the end of next year," Forcier said. "We're not just blindly installing capacity, we're building capacity that we have customer demand for in place. Our competitors are doing the same thing."

The Livonia plant is building prismatic (in battery lingo, that means rectangular) lithium-ion battery cells, modules and full systems. Its capacity is dedicated mostly to the Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid luxury car and the Navistar eStar electric delivery truck programs.

A123 also has production contracts with BMW, Daimler and SAIC Motors in China, as well as BAE Systems and Eaton Corp.'s Michigan-based hybrid truck operations. And it's in multiple development contracts with General Motors Corp. and in talks with Chrysler and Ford Motor Co.

Forcier, a veteran of Lear Corp. and Bosch and a graduate of what is now Kettering University, said the heavy truck market is a real bright spot for battery and hybrid vehicles.

"We're doing very well in the truck and bus market," he said. "When you talk total cost of ownership, fleet operators know that very very well, so you can justify the higher upfront cost (of electrics and hybrids) vs. the payback."

Forcier said A123 is also dealing with companies like AVL and FEV that build powertrain conversion kits for automakers -- making A123 simultaneously a Tier I, Tier II and Tier III supplier to the electric vehicle industry.

Forcier said that when he joined A123 in Livonia in August 2009, the plant had about 40 employees. It's now up to 300. And based on observed demand, it plans to grow to 3,000 employees over the next three years.

He said A123 is hiring both skilled manufacturing labor and professionals in engineering, sales and quality control.

"We see very strong demand for our product and we continue to align our capacity with that demand, and our competitors are doing the same," Forcier said.

The Livonia building where A123 is building the largest lithium-ion battery plant in North America (at 291,000 square feet) was formerly owned by Technicolor Corp., which used it to copy VHS tapes. It's been empty for around 10 years.

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