Construction is still underway at the future Ford EV battery plant known as BlueOval Battery Park Michigan, which will build lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) batteries using technology licensed from China-based CATL starting in 2026. However, that latter fact has stirred up plenty of controversy in recent times, with lawmakers questioning CATL’s alleged ties to the Chinese military. Just this week, the U.S. Department of Defense officially added CATL to its list of companies that it says work with China’s military via what’s formally known as the “Section 1260H list,” which only served to escalate the situation, potentially impacting battery production at Ford’s Michigan EV battery plant.
According to The Detroit News, some industry observers believe the DoD’s decision could have major implications on Ford’s production plans at the under-construction BlueOval Battery Park Michigan site. “It has to force them to reassess. Especially because they’ve gotten so much pushback already,” said Tu Le, managing director of Sino Auto Insights, an innovation and management consulting firm. “What other alternatives do they have? The Japanese and Koreans want to move into LFP (lithium-iron-phosphate) batteries, but ramping will take time.”
While the DoD’s decision to place CATL on the Section 1260H list won’t change anything in the interim, it’s unclear if any sorts of restrictions will be placed on the company in the future. “They may take this decision and decide to impose sanctions so that companies can’t use their technology in the United States,” said Sam Abuelsamid, vice president of market research at communications agency Telemetry. “If that happens, that’s a serious issue for Ford and for Tesla as well as for Volvo.” Regardless, CATL continues to deny these allegations.
This move could also impact CATL’s plans to build its own plants in the U.S., which hinge largely on any future legislation regarding Chinese companies – many of which already supply Ford and other automakers with various parts at the moment. There are also a lot of question marks regarding proposed legislation from the U.S. Commerce Department, which is considering prohibiting key Chinese software and hardware in connected vehicles on American roads, which would effectively ban all of those types of vehicles from the U.S. – models including the Lincoln Nautilus, which is built in China.
Comments
Partnering with China is a bad idea and has been a bad idea since China’s government became communist. It’s time to ‘design it, resource it and build it’ in America using American workers. Also there is an old saying, ‘must is a master.’ Ford will figure out a better way forward.
It would be only natural for CATL to work with the Chinese military. American companies work with the American military all the time. After all that’s where the BIG money is!!
Convert it to an assembly plant.