Ford Motor Co announced plans to invest $3.5 billion to build an electric vehicle battery plant in Michigan, betting that making the batteries in the United States will help it and Chinese partner CATL attract US customers to embrace a lower-cost technology pioneered in China.
Ford’s plan to build the battery plant near Marshall, Michigan, hinges on a judgment that lower cost and faster recharging will attract many customers, including commercial fleet buyers, to accept the limitations of lithium-iron-phosphate, or LFP batteries.
Ford is also counting on its decision to manufacture LFP batteries in the United States at the wholly owned plant to take the political risk out of relying on a Chinese technology partner.
