Though it has faced its fair share of trials and tribulations over the past couple of years, the Ford EV battery plant known as BlueOval Battery Park Michigan continues to take shape, and is still on track to begin producing lithium iron-phosphate batteries for all-electric vehicles starting in 2026. Due to softened demand for EVs, the future Ford EV battery plant won’t be quite as large or have as much output as originally expected, but regardless, The Blue Oval recently gave us another update on how construction at the site is coming along.
According to FoMoCo, construction at BlueOval Battery Park Michigan is now 20 percent complete, and as we can see from these new photos, it’s truly beginning to take shape. The main building at the future site – containing a cell and pack plant – will span around 1.8 million square feet when it’s finished, while other surrounding buildings will add another two million square feet to that total. Overall, the battery park will span 500 acres, plus 230 acres set aside for the Marshall Area Economic Development Authority and 245 acres along the Kalamazoo River placed in a conservation easement to protect it for future generations, buoyed by a $100,000 donation from Ford Philanthropy.
As part of that effort – and to avoid stormwater runoff – MAEDA will install a management system along the river, while chemical storage structures have built-in safety features including emergency secondary backup containment systems to prevent any environmental harm. The Ford EV battery plant will also utilize air abatement equipment – advanced technology designed to reduce air emissions, protect air quality, remove potential odors, and comply with standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Michigan.
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. As a result, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s Michigan Strategic Fund for BlueOval Battery Park Michigan has reduced the value of its incentive offer for the site from roughly $1.035 billion to somewhere between $384 million and $409 million.
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.
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