The under-construction Ford BlueOval Battery Park Michigan site has faced its fair share of challenges from the get-go, both from a legal perspective and from the citizens of Marshall. Aside from lawmakers concerned with the fact that FoMoCo will license technology from China-based CATL to make lithium-iron phosphate batteries there, some local residents have also been fighting the future plant in court, attempting to bring a necessary rezoning to a public vote, but with little success thus far. Amid declining demand for EVs, Ford recently announced that it was cutting its planned output at the new plant, but that hasn’t stopped a handful of folks from “review bombing” it on Google, it seems.
For those that don’t know, a review bomb is defined as an attempt “to manipulate an online rating system with a semi-organized campaign of unfavorable user reviews, often as a general statement of disapproval for a creator, a publisher, or other business, rather than a genuine opinion about a specific product or experience.” This is especially true of Ford BlueOval Battery Park Michigan, which has accumulated 47 reviews with an average of 1.7 stars – even though it hasn’t opened yet, nor will it be a public facility when it does.
“This Battery Plant brings nothing to the community of Marshall,” one reviewer said. “We lack the infrastructure to accommodate a population that will likely quadruple over the next two years. I watched this ‘green’ technology cut down hundreds of 200+ year old trees and turn them into mulch. Bulldozing beautiful historic farms and driving their double gravel haulers down the Main Street of our beautiful little town all day long. We DO NOT NEED this type of ‘progress.’ Move this plant to the thousands of square feet of empty plant space in the dying city of Battle Creek that could use an industry infusion and has the housing to support this influx.”
“The citizens of Marshall did not have a chance to vote on this Mega-mess,” another reviewer stated. “We do not want you as a neighbor. We don’t want your pollution (light, noise, environmental). We do not like the destruction of trees, farm land, and habitat. Go away.” However, not all reviews are negative, which helps lift the plant’s overall rating up a notch, anyway.
“So thankful for the Blue Oval Battery plant coming to our community!!” another reviewer added. “This truly will add so much to us all and enhance our lives as we embrace this amazing building and the wonderful people who work there. Marshall is such a poor city and this give us an opportunity to look outside ourselves and love others as they make us better, bringing wealth to us and making us smarter with new technology. Some people here still believe planet earth is flat instead of round and we need them to learn and be willing to embrace what is best for us all as humans.”
We’ll have more on Ford BlueOval Battery Park Michigan soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for 24/7 Ford news coverage.
Comments
Hey Ford, come on over to Ontario. We have a VW battery plant going up less than one kilometer from our home and I walk over with our puppy every day to watch the action. The neighbours, the politicians and local businesses have embraced the plant. So Come On Down!!
Any online comment that goes against the media’s preferred narrative is now called out as being “review bombing”. They can’t admit that sometimes people just don’t like it.