Ford is taking the first steps towards producing its own battery cells. The US automaker has now announced that it is building a global battery competence center called Ford Ion Park in southeast Michigan. Lithium-ion and solid-state batteries are to be developed there and produced in small series.
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The research center, which costs 185 million dollars – the equivalent of 153 million euros – is due to open at the end of 2022, according to Ford. Then lithium-ion cells and solid-state cells are to be developed and manufactured in the Ford Ion Park in order to test new manufacturing techniques.
In the Ford Ion Park, 150 specialists are to contribute with their work so that Ford can “quickly scale battery cell designs with novel materials” in the future. In addition, “aspects of the value chain” are to be optimized – from mines to recycling.
Although Ford is not yet planning any cell production in large numbers, the investment of millions is a strategic shift: While other large car manufacturers such as main competitor General Motors (in the form of the Ultium Cells joint venture with LG Energy Solution) and now also Volkswagen with the In September 2020, the then CEO Jim Hackett said that Ford would not build its own cells. A decision that the new CEO Jim Farley reversed after just a few months.
The Ford Ion Park is managed by Anand Sankaran, who has been with the group for over 30 years. Sankaran is currently Director of Electrified Systems Engineering – so he has experience in electromobility. In this role, Sankaran was also involved in the development of the Ford Mustang Mach-E and the F-150 Hybrid.
“We are already scaling the production of fully electric vehicles around the world as more and more customers experience the driving pleasure benefits of zero-emission electric vehicles and long for them,” said Hau Thai-Tang, chief product platform and operations officer of Ford, according to the company’s announcement . “Ultimately, if we invest in more research and development for batteries, we can accelerate the process to deliver more, better, and more affordable electric vehicles to customers over time.”
Interesting aspect: The US portal “InsideEVs” recalls that Thai-Tang had argued under Hackett that investments in battery production could burden the company with “investments in obsolete technology” if there was a massive breakthrough in solid-state batteries.
So far, Ford has relied on purchased battery cells from different suppliers. The cells for the Mustang Mach-E come from LG Energy Solution and are manufactured in the plant in Poland – and then shipped to the vehicle plant in Mexico, where the E-SUV is built. It is not known which cells the Mustang Mach-E from Chinese production will use. For the fully electric F-150 pickup, however, the US car manufacturer plans to use cells from SK Innovation. These cells are to be manufactured in the new facility in the US state of Georgia, which was part of the US lawsuit with LG.
Update 28.07.2021: The exact location of the announced Ford Ion Park has now been determined. The automaker will set up its global battery competence center in the city of Romulus. In the Ford Ion Park, up to “200 engineers, researchers, purchasing and finance managers” will work, according to the automaker in the current press release.
“The new lab will help Ford accelerate the battery development process to deliver higher performing, more affordable batteries, and is part of Ford’s renewed commitment to make Michigan a core part of its focus on electric vehicles,” said Anand Sankaran, Ford director Ion parks.
The city of Romulus is a suburb of Detroit. Detroit Wayne County Airport, the city’s international airport, is located on the city’s premises.
insideevs.com, ford.com, ford.com (Update)
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