The 2023 Ford Mustang Mach-E standard range battery is built by Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), one of the largest battery manufacturers in the world. But the model would no longer be available in the United States should a group of Republican lawmakers get their wish, according to a new report.
According to the Wall Street Journal, lawmakers want CATL and Gotion, another Chinese battery manufacturer, to be banned from shipping their products to the United States due to alleged use of forced labor. They call for both companies to be added to the entity list of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. Representatives John Moolenaar, Mark Green, and Senator Marco Rubio are among the group that sent two letters to the Biden administration calling for the ban. Ford did not respond to the paper’s request for comment, but a CATL spokesperson said that “any suggestion that CATL has used forced labor, or has any connection to forced labor, is absolutely false.” The letters were sent amid increased trade tensions between China and the United States and as the Biden administration greatly increased the tariffs on electric vehicles and critical materials imported from China.
The 2023 Ford Mustang Mach-E received CATL’s lithium-iron phosphate battery in a mid-year update for the standard range model. Automakers have been switching to LFP batteries due to their cheaper cost and ability to charge to 100 percent without issue, among other benefits. The extended model still utilizes a nickel, cobalt, and manganese battery supplied by LG, which also supplies Ford batteries for the Ford E-Transit. The Ford F-150 Lightning utilizes batteries from SK On. A ban on CATL equipment would further disadvantage the Mach-E, which lost federal EV tax credit eligibility in January due to the critical materials present in both batteries.
This is not the first time entities have alleged that Ford suppliers may be using forced labor for their products. As Ford Authority previously reported, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated that Chinese lithium mining utilized slave labor. Additionally, the UAW has called on automakers to sever ties with Chinese companies over the issue. To date, neither Ford or any of its suppliers have been been directly tied to using forced labor in their supply chains.
American lawmakers have criticized Ford’s relationship with CATL in the past over plans for its upcoming EV battery in Michigan. That facility would license technology from the company but the plant would be under Ford’s control. Ford decided to downsize the plant last year. It is currently scheduled to come online in 2026.
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Comments
Whats wrong with these people we have companies all over the world. Ford isn’t buying from China they are making these batteries here, American Jobs and American produced. Yeah CATL gets a cut of the production but they honestly have the best cheapest batteries in the world. Their new LFP battery is awesome. Sad they don’t see if they want an American company to make batteries American needs to step up its battery game. Honestly CATL is just kicking our behind.
So, they are saying their people get tread like, well, cattle?
10 Year Olds Learning a New Trade at Pennies on the Dollar??? IF they get Paid at all. And….. We take it up the WAZOO in Tariff Taxes and all that B.S. If we can’t make it in the USA???? There’s something really Outta control!!! I’am a Lucky Californian paying $5.97 A Gallon for Fuel Also, and Electricity is OFF The Charts Over here as well!!!
If you look hard enough, just about every Chinese company is benefitting from forced labor somewhere. If they’re not actually enslaved, theyr financial slaves that make less than the company charges them for the opportunity to work there (room/board/food).