Ford is taking the first steps towards producing its own battery cells. The US automaker has now announced that it will build a global battery competence center called Ford Ion Park in southeast Michigan. There, lithium-ion and solid-state batteries are to be developed and manufactured in small series.
++ This post has been updated. You can find the new information at the bottom. ++
The $185 million research center is scheduled to open in late 2022, according to Ford. Then lithium-ion cells and solid-state cells will be developed and manufactured in the Ford Ion Park in order to test new manufacturing techniques.
In the Ford Ion Park, 150 specialists will work to ensure that Ford can “quickly scale battery cell designs with new 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 cell production in larger quantities, the million-euro investment is a change in strategy: while other major car manufacturers such as main competitor General Motors (in the form of the joint venture Ultium Cells together with LG Energy Solution) and now also Volkswagen with the While the battery factories announced “Power Day” are increasingly relying on their own cells and also participating in their production, the then CEO Jim Hackett said in September 2020 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 production of fully electric vehicles around the world as more customers experience and crave the fun-to-drive benefits of zero-emission electric vehicles,” said Hau Thai-Tang, Ford’s chief product platform and operations officer, according to the company’s announcement . “Ultimately, if we invest in more battery research and development, we can accelerate the process to deliver more, even better, and more cost-effective electric vehicles to customers over time.”
Interesting aspect: The US portal “InsideEVs” recalls that under Hackett, Thai-Tang still argued that investments in battery production could burden the company with “investments in outdated technology” if there was a massive breakthrough in solid-state batteries.
So far, Ford has relied on battery cells purchased from different suppliers. The cells for the Mustang Mach-E come from LG Energy Solution and are manufactured at 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 Chinese-made Mustang Mach-E will use. However, the US carmaker wants to use cells from SK Innovation for the all-electric F-150 pickup. These cells will be manufactured at the new Georgia facility that was part of the US litigation with LG.
Update 28.07.2021: The exact location of the announced Ford Ion Park has now been determined. The carmaker will establish its global battery competence center in the city of Romulus. Up to “200 engineers, researchers, purchasing and finance managers” will work in the Ford Ion Park, according to the carmaker in the current announcement.
“The new lab will help Ford accelerate the battery development process to provide even higher-performing, more affordable batteries and is part of Ford’s renewed commitment to making Michigan a core part of its electric vehicle focus,” said Anand Sankaran, director of Ford Ion Parks.
The city of Romulus is a suburb of Detroit. Detroit’s Wayne County Airport, the city’s international airport, is located on the city’s grounds.
insideevs.com, ford.com, ford.com (Update)