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Ford EV Battery Supplier CATL To Announce New European Plant

Ford EV battery supplier and partner CATL is currently in a bit of hot water in the U.S., with government officials expressing concerns over the company’s potential ties to the Chinese military. Regardless, at least for now, the future BlueOval Battery Park Michigan site will use licensed lithium iron-phosphate battery (LFP) technology from CATL to build those same units when it comes online in 2026, and Ford currently utilizes batteries from that same company in some of its EVs. Now, CATL will soon announce a new EV battery plant of its own in Europe.

The CATL Shenxing LFP battery.

According to Car News China, CATL Vice Chairman Pan Jian revealed this forthcoming move at the World Economic Forum in Davos recently. “We expect to announce new joint venture factory projects with other OEMs in Europe this year,” Jian said, though he didn’t provide any additional details pertaining to this new facility. This announcement comes mere weeks after CATL revealed that it will build a joint-venture EV battery plant with Stellantis in Spain, which will produce LFP batteries for that automaker as well, and CATL already has plants in Germany and Hungary that are producing batteries currently.

It’s not terribly surprising that CATL continues to expand its footprint in Europe given the fact that it’s unclear what the future holds for the Chinese battery maker in the U.S.  “The uncertainty of the US market makes the European market so important for not only Chinese EV makers but battery manufacturers as well,” said Tu Le, managing director of Sino Auto Insights. “Especially as the risk of a slowdown in the China market in 2025 looms large.”

CATL Shenxing LFP Battery

As Ford Authority recently reported, the U.S. Department of Defense has 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.” Such a move doesn’t ban those companies’ products from being sold in the U.S., but it does cast a negative light on the reputation of each, serving as a bit of a warning to any U.S.-based company that does business with them – not to mention placing a bit of pressure on the U.S. Treasury Department to sanction both. Thus far, CATL has denied these allegations, however.

Brett's lost track of all the Fords he's owned over the years and how much he's spent modifying them, but his current money pits include an S550 Mustang and 13th gen F-150.

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Comments

  1. No rush. No one will need EVs for awhile now thank God.

    Reply
    1. What about hybrids?

      Reply

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