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A-123 hires, then fires, then hires again

Michigan lithium-ion battery company is hiring again - after slashing its workforce last year.

A-123 says it plans to hire up to 400 people in the next few months.[A-123 has one factory in Romulus and one in Livonia.   The advanced batteries are used in cars, trucks, and buses, as well as large storage units for the electric power grid.

Jobs at the company peaked at about a thousand, but several hundred jobs were cut last year as orders fell.

Now A-123 says it will hire about 100 people a month over the next several months.

The company still has serious financial obstacles to overcome. They include paying$67 million to replace defective batteries that were put into Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid cars.

A-123 also needs to raise more capital. A spokesman says the company is pursuing a new line of credit and strategic partnerships.

 

Tracy Samilton covers energy and transportation, including the auto industry and the business response to climate change for Michigan Public. She began her career at Michigan Public as an intern, where she was promptly “bitten by the radio bug,” and never recovered.