The electric pickup market is heating up as a host of automakers prepare to launch their products into what figures to be a crowded marketplace. That includes Ford, which is busy at work developing the Ford F-150 EV. Ford COO (and soon-to-be CEO) Jim Farley confirmed that the first-ever all-electric Ford F-150 was due to arrive in mid-2022 just a couple of months ago, but a pending lawsuit has the potential to thwart those plans, according to Reuters.
Last year, a legal dispute arose between rival South Korean electric vehicle battery makers LG Chem and SK Innovation. The former filed a lawsuit against the latter alleging that SK was stealing trade secrets. The suit requested that courts prevent SK innovation from establishing a battery production facility in the U.S.
If the court rules in favor of LG Chem, it would cause problems for a number of automakers including Ford and Volkswagen. Both were poised to purchase batteries from SK Innovation following its planned expansion, which involved a new battery manufacturing facility in Georgia. Both Ford and Volkswagen have petitioned the International Trade Commissions (ITC) to allow SK to go through with its plans and avoid a major disruption in the supply chain.
LG has offered to fill in the production gaps, but Ford has said that a short supply of base materials and the long developmental times of EVs would make this impossible. LG has also faced challenges meeting deadlines in the past, most notably with the Audi e-tron, which would also leave Ford facing potential delays as well.
Meanwhile, Tesla is hard at work bringing battery production in house at its “Roadrunner” facility, which would circumvent potential third-party disputes such as this.
We’ll have much more on this potential Ford F-150 EV production delay very soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Ford F-Series news, Ford F-150 news, and continuous Ford news coverage.
Comments
People don’t understand the harm to the environment that making all of these batteries is going to cause. Just getting enough raw materials is going to take a lot of strip mining, never mind the lithium. It just doesn’t make any sense, other than to get the companies average mileage up. I would never be that inconsiderate of the environment just so I could be an eco snob.
It’s all about MPG equivalent and carbon foot print to meet EPA air pollution standards. Sure the energy needed to mine raw materials may negate some of it but power plant air pollution is more controllable. It also adds to reduce oil imports, etc. EV vehicle’s are perceived to be “clean energy” and that can be debated all year long. From the time of the first motor vehicles hit the road, the automobile has been and will always be nearly 100% recycled. The lead acid battery is recycled all the time and eventually the technology will trickle down to EV batteries to be recyclable, if not it may already be known.