Continental has opened a new facility to produce lithium-ion batteries to be used in hybrid drive cars. The company says some 15,000 lithium-ion batteries can be produced annually and this capacity can be doubled at short notice.
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The firm’s Powertrain Division has invested over three million euros in building up manufacturing capacity at the Nuremberg site.
“This underlines Continental’s claim that, by developing and manufacturing state-of-the-art drive technologies, it can contribute to a significant reduction in fuel consumption by vehicles in future and, consequently, to a reduction in CO2 emissions as well”, said Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann, Chief Executive Officer of Continental AG and head of the Powertrain Division.
The battery which Continental has developed weighs around 25 kilograms and requires an installation volume of some 13 litres.
The lithium-ion battery produced in Nuremberg, including the hybrid technology, will be installed as standard in the new Mercedes S400 BlueHYBRID, available from the middle of 2009. The luxury car with a six-cylinder gasoline engine will achieve a consumption rate of 7.9 litres of gasoline per 100 kilometres, equating to CO2 emissions of 190 grams per kilometre, Conti says.
