Reports SAY Ford Will Build An EV Battery Factory In Michigan

Ford will build a battery factory in Michigan (photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Ford Motor Co announced its plans to build an iron lithium phosphate battery factory in Michigan, worth US$3.5 billion (Rp53.2 trillion).

This news came from a source who directly told Reuters Ford plans for Monday, February 13. Ford is expected to operate the factory with a Chinese battery company.

The name of the battery company according to reports is China's Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL), which will play a role as a technology partner to help develop batteries.

However, the plant is expected to be located in the Marshall area of Michigan and will employ at least 2,500 workers.

According to Bloomberg, Ford has also considered a factory ownership structure that will allow them to have their entire plant and infrastructure.

Meanwhile, CATL will only act as a technology provider that will be used to make batteries.

"We have said that we are exploring batteries based on CATL technology for Ford vehicles and we plan to localize them," a Ford spokesperson told Bloomberg.

In July, Ford said it would start looking for batteries for 2023 bound by CATL's Mustang Mach-E model. That same month, the company announced plans to produce a 40 gigawatt hour battery capacity in North America starting in 2026.

Ford has also targeted the number of motorized sport utility vehicles (SUV) production of Mustang Mach-E as many as 270 thousand units throughout 2023.