The under-construction Ford BlueOval Battery Park Michigan site is still a ways away from producing lithium iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries for EVs, but still, it has faced quite a bit of adversity over the past several months. Aside from questions from the U.S. government regarding the automaker’s decision to license battery tech from China-based manufacturer CATL, Ford BlueOval Battery Park Michigan has also been the center of a legal battle from local residents, though their ongoing legal challenge against the site failed in court just last month. Now, the state of Michigan has decided to scale back its incentive package for the future plant, too.
The automaker has announced that it received a revised incentive offer from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s Michigan Strategic Fund for BlueOval Battery Park Michigan, which will reduce the value of that package from roughly $1.035 billion to somewhere between $384 million and $409 million. However, this action stems from the automaker’s decision to pare back the size and output of that facility.
As Ford Authority previously reported, FoMoCo recently decided to cut back its planned workforce at Ford BlueOval Battery Park Michigan from 2,500 workers to 1,700 and dial back its expected production output as well, from 35 gigawatt hours to 20 annually. As such, the future Ford EV battery plant will also have a smaller footprint than originally expected when it’s completed, encompassing around 500 acres instead of the previously planned 730 acres.
“We are grateful to the Michigan Strategic Fund board and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation for their support as we build upon Ford’s strong history of job creation and investment in Michigan,” said Tony Reinhart, the company’s director of state and local government affairs. “We are nimbly adjusting our manufacturing operations to match evolving customer demand and the Michigan Strategic Fund board is revising its incentive offers accordingly.”
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Comment
“We are nimbly adjusting our manufacturing operations to match evolving customer demand and the Michigan Strategic Fund board is revising its incentive offers accordingly.”
In other words: “we f’ed up”