- Ford knows that the future of the automotive industry is electric.
- For this reason, the company has already made available more than 17.5 billion dollars to produce electric vehicles and batteries in the United States in the last 3 years.
- The novelty is to invest 3.5 billion dollars in the construction of a lithium-ferrophosphate battery manufacturing plant in Michigan.
Ford will materialize an investment of 3.5 billion dollars in the construction of a lithium-ferrophosphate battery factory for electric cars in Michigan, USA, as announced by the multinational giant of the automotive industry.
The factory is expected to start operations in 2026.
Ford Motor Company’ s idea is to hire 2,500 workers just to work in these facilities, which will belong to a subsidiary of the US company and will be called BlueOval Battery Park Michigan.
The new facilities will add about 35 gigawatt hours per year of battery production capacity for the automaker in the US, which, according to the company, will be enough for the production of more than 400,000 electric cars per year.
In this regard, Ford Motor Company announced that it had reached an agreement with the Chinese technology company Contemporary Amperex Technology, which specializes in the manufacture of batteries, thanks to which the production of the new factory will use the lithium-ferrophosphate battery cell know-how and services of the Chinese company.
Ford batteries: a variety of options
Ford will provide customers with a second battery technology option, as it also manufactures nickel, cobalt and magnesium batteries.
According to the US multinational, this will give Ford customers the possibility to opt for an electric car with battery performance characteristics in line with what they are looking for.
In this regard, the automaker argues that lithium-ferrophosphate batteries last longer and withstand charging more frequently and more quickly, in addition to using cheaper and less demanding materials.
“This cheaper battery, at scale, will help the company maintain and even reduce the prices of its electric cars. The lithium-ferrophostat batteries will be used for the all-electric, economical passenger car and pickup trucks, which will be assembled mostly on U.S. soil,” he added.
Ford’s investment commitments
Considering this investment of 3.5 billion dollars, the company has already made available more than 17.5 billion dollars to produce electric cars and batteries in the United States in the last three years.
This is aligned with its commitment to invest more than $50 billion in the production of electric cars and batteries worldwide in the next three years.
“Until 2026 these investments are going to generate more than 18,000 direct jobs in the states of Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio and Missouri and another 100,000 indirect jobs,” the automaker assured.
Electric cars: Volkswagen
As consumers become increasingly aware of the impact of fossil fuels on the environment, major car companies (and small ones too) are shifting their focus to electric technology.
While electric vehicles were once considered just a niche market, they are now becoming mainstream.
There is no longer any doubt about this as more and more people are looking for environmentally friendly alternatives to gasoline-powered vehicles.
Not to mention Tesla, the pioneer in this market, and in addition to Ford, Volkswagen, one of the world’s largest automakers, aims to become the world leader in ecars by 2027.
The German company has invested more than anyone else in EVs. It plans to spend an estimated $40 billion-plus on electric mobility, digitalization and autonomy.
In 2020, for example, within days of the pandemic, VW launched the ID3, an all-electric car that was the first in a series of electric cars the company plans to launch in the coming years.
The German company has also set a goal of marketing 1.1 million electric vehicles per year by 2027.
VW’s strategy is to position itself as a leader (as it is now alongside Toyota and the Nissan-Renault alliance), with the goal of making electric cars accessible to all.
Toyota’s strategy in electric cars
Toyota, another major player in the automotive industry, but has taken a different approach to electric cars.
The company has focused on hybrid technology, which combines gasoline engines with electric-powered engines, as a way to transition to a more sustainable future.
Toyota’s hybrid technology has been very successful, with the company selling more than 30 million hybrid cars worldwide by early 2022.
Toyota’ s progress on 100% electric cars is slower than its rivals. The idea until last year was to introduce 14 new battery-electric models globally by 2025, but this will not be possible.
With the arrival of the new CEO(Koji Sato), after the resignation of Akio Toyoda in April 2023, the company’s strategy will be to balance the production of hybrid and fully electric cars to meet the needs of different markets and consumers.
Nissan, meanwhile, introduced the first mass-market electric car, the Leaf, in 2010. While it was a pioneer in the electric car market, it did not advance at the same speed as VW, for example.
The company has continued to invest in electric car technology, and plans to launch 10 new electric models by 2024.
Nissan has also been developing new battery technology that it claims will double the range of its electric vehicles.
