by Keith Naughton
Bloomberg
August 15, 2012
Ford Motor Co., debuting five battery-powered models this year, is spending $135 million to design electric-drive parts and double battery testing capacity.
Ford is moving more battery research in-house and has hired 60 engineers in the last year, bringing its electric-vehicle engineering staff to more than 1,000, according to a statement today. The moves help reduce the cost of hybrid systems by 30 percent and speed development by 25 percent, Ford said.