Springboro workers to assemble Fiat car batteries


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SPRINGBORO — Batteries for the Chrysler-Fiat entry into the hybrid car market will be assembled in Springboro.

SB LiMotive, a joint venture of Korean-based Samsung and German-based Robert Bosch, announced Monday that assembly of lithium-ion batteries for the Fiat 500EV, an electric car to be unveiled in the U.S. in 2012, would be completed at the Cobasys plant in Springboro.

No new jobs are to be created.

“We expect that the assembly of the battery packs for the Fiat 500EV will be handled using existing resources at the plant,” said Cheryl Kilborn, director of public relations and product communications for Bosch in Michigan.

This was good news for James Winship, president of IUE-CWA Local 755, the union representing Cobasys workers.

“We welcome that work,” Winship said. “We have a work force that’s proven.”

The Springboro plant, which employs about 150, is on Ovonics Drive, near Interstate 75.

Since 2003, workers at the plant, built by Texaco Ovonic Battery Systems, formerly GM Ovonics, have assembled nickel metal hybrid batteries for cars.

The lithium-ion battery packs to be assembled there will be developed by Chrysler in Michigan and produced at an SB LiMotive plant in Korea, according to a press release.

The batteries will go into an electronic version of a Fiat subcompact entering a market expected to include the Toyota Prius, Ford Focus, Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt.

Contact this reporter at lbudd@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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