Ford Blueoval Battery Park Michigan Officially Announced

[AzScorpion]

I've been reading about this joint venture for a few weeks now and it looks like it's finalized. Not sure I like the idea of Ford getting into bed with China on this. Also in a separate article they're still not clear how the treasury dept is going to handle this.

Specifically, the Inflation Reduction Act includes language that seeks to prevent automakers from taking advantage of consumer EV tax credits if they make vehicles with batteries made by a “foreign entity of concern.” Congress designed the rules to incentivize automakers to build a domestic supply chain for EV parts instead of relying on China for critical components.

This new Ford BlueOval Battery Park Michigan is the very first LFP battery plant in the U.S. It'll open in 2026 and employ 2,500 workers at a cost of 3.5 billion. Looks like Ford has A LOT invested in EV's between this plant and the new Blue Oval City going up now in TN.

https://fordauthority.com/2023/02/ford-blueoval-battery-park-michigan-officially-announced/

As Ford invests $50 billion in EVs over the coming years, the automaker is also working with a host of suppliers from around the globe and aims to replace lithium-ion batteries with lithium-iron phosphate units – all in an effort to overcome numerous supply chain issues and reduce costs

Now, those efforts have paid off, as the new Ford BlueOval Battery Park Michigan – as it’s officially called – will become the very first LFP battery plant in the U.S. Production is slated to begin in 2026, at which time the plant will employ upwards of 2,500 people, as expected, with room to grow in the future as well. As Ford points out, LFP batteries are less expensive to produce than lithium-ion units, and making them in the U.S. reduces shipping and import costs while also taking advantage of tax breaks brought forth by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which should make future Ford EVs more affordable.

The new plant will add 35 gigawatt hours per year of new battery capacity for FoMoCo in the U.S. initially, which is enough to power approximately 400,000 future Ford EVs. As expected, Ford will manufacture the battery cells there using LFP battery cell knowledge
and services provided by CATL, while engineers will integrate these LFP battery cells into the automaker’s vehicles.

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[Chris M]

The China connection is why VA Gov. Youngkin rejected building the plant there.

Is there a reason America can't do this on its own?

 

[IdahoRanger]

The China connection is why VA Gov. Youngkin rejected building the plant there.

Is there a reason America can't do this on its own?

Maybe because the gov shuts down our mining.

 

[AzScorpion]

The China connection is why VA Gov. Youngkin rejected building the plant there.

Is there a reason America can't do this on its own?

I remember reading that and of course the media crucified him for that.

I can only ASSume it's a money backing? But you'd think if EV's were so great there's be many willing to invest in them here from the US than always relying on China. IDK but I'm sick of all these companies getting into bed with China. We've learned NOTHING from the past!

 

[AzScorpion]

Maybe because the gov shuts down our mining.

I thought that they were behind this as all in for whatever it takes? I didn't dig any deeper yet but I know there's a few mines in NV and my customer just said something about one in the San Diego area?

 

[E Monty]

This is 5 miles from my house!! The surrounding area is not large for available labor. Where are people gonna live, eat, shop etc etc. 2,500 people is not a small number. It’s gonna take our small town and turn it in its head!!! There was a new high voltage power line brought in within a year less than a mile from this site. Kinda makes you think it was all planned out long ago. The township only started holding meetings on it within 2 weeks ago in regards to annexing land to the city. Not sure how I feel about it but I don’t like it here…

Also china controls all of the cobalt mines so they therefore control the cobalt market. The cobalt mining is a terrible thing if you were to research it. Look up Siddarth Kara and see what he reports on, doesn’t look good.

 

[AzScorpion]

This is 5 miles from my house!! The surrounding area is not large for available labor. Where are people gonna live, eat, shop etc etc. 2,500 people is not a small number. It’s gonna take our small town and turn it in its head!!! There was a new high voltage power line brought in within a year less than a mile from this site. Kinda makes you think it was all planned out long ago. The township only started holding meetings on it within 2 weeks ago in regards to annexing land to the city. Not sure how I feel about it but I don’t like it here…

Also china controls all of the cobalt mines so they therefore control the cobalt market. The cobalt mining is a terrible thing if you were to research it. Look up Siddarth Kara and see what he reports on, doesn’t look good.

This is the sad part as they don't care what they do to these small towns. It's all about money now and ruining a nice small community has no bearing on their decision. I'm surprised the town passed this but then again I'm sure there was a lot of money thrown around and some "backroom deals" handed out.

Trust me I'm all for progress but not if it ruins these small towns. I lived in one for 20 years and really miss it now. There's such a feel of community there and most times everyone is helpful. Heck I've seen what housing projects (large and small) do to areas with all the truck, workers and noise. I can't imagine this going in my back yard.

 

[IdahoRanger]

I thought that they were behind this as all in for whatever it takes? I didn't dig any deeper yet but I know there's a few mines in NV and my customer just said something about one in the San Diego area?

Well: https://www.foxbusiness.com/politic...g-ban-on-minnesota-land-give-more-power-china

Here in ID they are trying to re-open Stibnite for antimony which is used in weapons but it is trying to get stopped by all the usual suspects.

 

[AzScorpion]

Here's an update that explains that Ford will control the plant. It looks like there's no money from China backing this and it's their LFP battery cell knowledge and services they're using. So if I'm understanding this right Ford, MI and the US government are putting up the money and China will receive their payment for their knowledge and services.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ford-reveals-key-details-950-184615313.html

"It's really important to understand Ford controls the plant," Lisa Drake, vice president of industrialization for the Model e unit at Ford, told reporters Monday amid some recent criticisms in Congress and elsewhere of deals with Chinese companies. Tensions are high between the two countries.

Under the arrangement, Ford will manufacture the battery cells using LFP battery cell knowledge and services provided by CATL, Ford said in its news release. Ford engineers will integrate these LFP battery cells into vehicles, including the Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning.

 

[Stevedbvik1]

Here's an update that explains that Ford will control the plant. It looks like there's no money from China backing this and it's their LFP battery cell knowledge and services they're using. So if I'm understanding this right Ford, MI and the US government are putting up the money and China will receive their payment for their knowledge and services.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ford-reveals-key-details-950-184615313.html

Ford is also working on sourcing battery materials from “ friendly “ countries beside the US.
https://media.ford.com/content/ford...battery-capacity-raw-materials-scale-evs.html

 

[AzScorpion]

Ford is also working on sourcing battery materials from “ friendly “ countries beside the US.
https://media.ford.com/content/ford...battery-capacity-raw-materials-scale-evs.html

That's great and all but IMHO if you're taking federal & state funds, rebates or grants you should be using 100% US companies. Yes I know they all do this but it doesn't make it right.

 

[Stevedbvik1]

That's great and all but IMHO if you're taking federal & state funds, rebates or grants you should be using 100% US companies. Yes I know they all do this but it doesn't make it right.

Agree but if the materials aren’t readily available in the US they have two choices. One, don’t build EV’s or Two source the best that you can. I think the legislation is trying to steer it to US but it will take time, political and societal stamina to get it to 100%

 

[Dr_Strangelove]

I know this discussion revolves specifically around Ford; but when I looked up more information on LFP batteries it seems like this is going to be an industry-wide shift and is not unique to Ford. I see news on Tesla talking about making this shift as far back as 2021. With 10 minutes' knowledge on my side it looks like these LFP batteries last quite a bit longer than the old lithium ion batteries. Chinese patent or not it seems like not embracing this technology would make a car uncompetitive in today's market. Fingers crossed an American company is working on a better alternative. I couldn't even name a battery company that's not sold in a supermarket.

 

[AzScorpion]

I know this discussion revolves specifically around Ford; but when I looked up more information on LFP batteries it seems like this is going to be an industry-wide shift and is not unique to Ford. I see news on Tesla talking about making this shift as far back as 2021. With 10 minutes' knowledge on my side it looks like these LFP batteries last quite a bit longer than the old lithium ion batteries. Chinese patent or not it seems like not embracing this technology would make a car uncompetitive in today's market. Fingers crossed an American company is working on a better alternative. I couldn't even name a battery company that's not sold in a supermarket.

This same company supplies batteries to Tesla and Honda. I get it that there's no viable option right now to use a US based battery company. My issue is these US companies getting federal & state money. If they're getting these subsidies from us then they should have to use all US companies.

You're right that embracing this would make the company more competitive but we're still relying on China for this. Kind of like what happened with the microchip fiasco. Sure we're finally starting to build several chip plants here now, but 3 years later and we're still dealing with this mess. Seems like we're always putting the cart before the horse until they learn their lesson the hard way. ?‍

 

[dtech]

Here's an update that explains that Ford will control the plant. It looks like there's no money from China backing this and it's their LFP battery cell knowledge and services they're using. So if I'm understanding this right Ford, MI and the US government are putting up the money and China will receive their payment for their knowledge and services.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ford-reveals-key-details-950-184615313.html

this article I believe says the CATL deal employs technology that doesn't use cobalt. And yes the deal seems less onerous than some articles originally reported, but the Chinese gov is reviewing the deal as well. Seems some of the reporting about Ford on the amazon mining and CATL may be biased or an overreaction impacted by the current tensions.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/02/22/1069032/ev-batteries-politicization-china-us/

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