Boston-Power to build a new battery factory
A Westborough maker of a lithium-ion battery pack is poised to give the Bay State job market a much-needed boost as it looks to move into the auto market.
Boston-Power Inc., which manufactures the Sonata battery used in Hewlett-Packard laptops, today is expected to detail plans for a plant in Auburn that could employ about 600 people to produce batteries for plug-in hybrid and electric cars.
"I'm going to help [the electric-vehicle] market take off and I'd love to do that in the United States and, specifically, in Massachusetts," said chief executive Christina Lampe-Onnerud, who founded the company in 2005. It currently has about 100 employees in the state and several hundred more overseas.
The additional jobs would also be a boon for a state where the unemployment rate has risen to 7.7 percent from 4.1 percent in a year's time, according to the most recent data from the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.
Lampe-Onnerud said Boston-Power is seeking $100 million in funding from the federal energy and defense departments, as well as from the state, to finance the factory. The company has leased a 455,000 square-foot building - an old Filene's Basement distribution center - that it plans to convert into a plant to produce the Swing battery for cars.
"It's a battery specifically for transportation, but it's a very similar product to Sonata," Lampe-Onnerud said, adding that the company has been in talks with potential partners in the automotive industry.
If federal funding comes through, the factory would be the latest confirmation of Boston-Power's viability, even in a dismal economy. Late last year, as other businesses were suffering some of their worst fourth quarters ever, the battery maker struck a deal to provide the Sonata - a fast-charging, environmentally friendly power pack - for HP laptops. Soon after, the company received $55 million from several investors to market, manufacture, and sell its product.
As a result, Boston-Power is adding employees while many firms are reducing their workforces. In March, company officials said they expected to hire about two dozen employees in the coming months. Last week, about a dozen job openings were listed on the company's website.
That's good news for Massachusetts officials, who have been working to bring jobs into the state, especially in the clean technology sector.
Contingent on federal funding, the state has committed $9 million to help finance the new Boston-Power factory, Lampe-Onnerud said.
That support could come in the form of loans and other incentives, said Ian Bowles, secretary of the state's Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
"This is one of the most significant financial commitments we've offered in the clean-energy area," Bowles said.
He said Massachusetts is willing to bet on Boston-Power because it believes the company could help make the state an early leader in the emerging clean-energy manufacturing sector.
"These types of batteries are generally believed to be the key step for plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles," Bowles said. "It's a natural strength for us, and there's a very large market opening up for these types of products right now."
Erin Ailworth can be reached at eailworth@globe.com. 
