MT. COMFORT — Gov. Mitch Daniels has asked himself a simple question: Why can’t the next Microsoft, the next Apple, the next Google come from Indiana?
He now sees the possibility of that kind of explosive growth in EnerDel, the company that’s pioneering lithium-ion battery technology for automotive and other applications.
Daniels was at EnerDel’s new Mt. Comfort facility on Thursday afternoon for the announcement of a joint venture between EnerDel and Wanxiang, the largest auto parts supplier in China.
The EnerDel venture will begin producing battery systems for Wanxiang this year. For EnerDel, the deal provides an entry into a booming automotive market.
The Chinese company will continue to expand its manufacturing facility in Hangzhou, a growing industrial center about 112 miles southwest of Shanghai. Under the joint venture with EnerDel, Wanxiang expects to double its production.
EnerDel executives believe the Wanxiang partnership could eventually bring EnerDel’s total employment in central Indiana to 3,000 — more than double the 1,400 jobs the company projected in January, according to a news release.
Today, EnerDel has just under 300 total employees in its three Indiana facilities, including about 45 in Mt. Comfort, estimated EnerDel President Richard Stanley.
“We’re continuing to grow. We’ll do some significant additional hiring this year,”
Stanley said in an interview, adding he predicts another 100 to 200 more jobs.
Right now, EnerDel is producing 25 battery packs a week for Think, the Norwegian automaker. The packs are being shipped to Finland for final assembly, Stanley said.
But EnerDel is ramping up its Mt. Comfort production. Volume is projected to increase from 100 packs a month to 900 packs a month by the first quarter of 2011, Stanley said.
China has been a key target market for EnerDel.
Many observers believe that trade with China is a “one-way street” and that “American companies don’t stand a chance” there, said Charles Gassenheimer, CEO of Ener1, the parent company of EnerDel. However, one should never underestimate American innovation, he continued. Don’t ask how we can compete with China, he said. “Instead, the question is: How do we compete in China?”
“China is truly the largest and fastest-growing automotive market in the world, and perhaps in history,” Gassenheimer said.
EnerDel’s deal with Wanxiang was carefully orchestrated over the course of six months, Gassenheimer said in an interview.
The state of Indiana has played a role in more than 800 economic development agreements in the past five years, but “I don’t know that any of them have the potential that this does,” Daniels said, speaking at a podium in front of EnerDel executives and employees, journalists and a contingent of Chinese officials.
Daniels described how he laid the groundwork for the Wanxiang deal when he met with company officials during a China trip last fall. He said a company executive said he’d been waiting for another Indiana visit since meeting former Gov. Robert Orr 22 years ago.
Indiana and Chinese leaders will continue to meet today at an economic summit to discuss advanced vehicle technology. Daniels expects the EnerDel deal to fuel the momentum for Indiana-China business relations.
“Today might be looked at for a long time as the day in which a relationship between Indiana and China took a huge step forward,” Daniels said.