Back in January – amid reports that President Donald Trump was eyeing the possibility of killing off the federal EV tax credit – Ford CEO Jim Farley noted that such a move would have a “a significant impact” on the industry, and not just in terms of making the act of purchasing EVs more expensive for consumers that qualify. Rather, the under-construction BlueOval Battery Park Michigan site, which is slated to build lithium iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries for future EVs, is dependent on those funds as well. Now that it seems more likely that the EV tax credit is in fact going away, Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford is speaking out on the matter, too.
“To Ford Motor Company, it is not acceptable to rely on buying batteries from China forever,” Bill Ford said in a statement. “We’re America’s top auto producer and we’ve always built in America. That is why we’re building a new battery plant in Marshall, Michigan, so battery assembly can be done by American workers right here. The House bill puts this at risk. Congress can make a decision to either force the U.S. to remain dependent on China or enter a new era of American independence and innovation.”
As Ford Authority reported earlier this month, a group of House Republicans introduced a bill that proposes killing off the federal EV tax credit, as well as repealing fuel efficiency rules. If the bill passes, it would end the $7,500 new EV tax credit and $4,000 used credit at the conclusion of 2025, though automakers that haven’t sold 200,000 electric vehicles would continue to qualify for the credit for an additional year. Additionally, the bill is aiming to rescind existing corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards and greenhouse gas emission rules for 2027 and beyond.
One thing that the bill isn’t aiming to get rid of are battery production tax credits for automakers and battery makers, though it would add a provision that bars credits for vehicles that utilize components made by Chinese companies or using licensed technology from that country starting in 2027 – a major sticking point for Ford, which plans to utilize licensed LFP battery tech from China-based CATL at the under-construction BlueOval Battery Park Michigan site. Of further concern to Ford is the fact that this bill is aiming to rescind unobligated funding that supports the manufacture of certain advanced technology vehicles.
“It’s not fair to change policy after all the expenditures have been made,” Ford said at this week’s at the Mackinac Policy Conference, according to Transport Topics. “The production tax credit seems to be up for grabs.” He added that “nothing needs to change” about the production tax credit because “we have built the business case on Marshall around that. “Politicians can agree or disagree about whether those things are desirable,” Ford said. “But don’t change the rules once you’ve already made the investment because that to me is just a question of fairness. And that’s unfair.”
Comments
Might as well kill it now. The future of EV’s is bleak
Kinda reminds me of a few Ford/UAW contracts!
Yes, and with that said, Sam, I’ve actually had customers tell me, that because of the latest UAW Contracts, they will never buy American again.
All of these EV projects are in peril. I guarantee there are a lot of sleepless nights at GM and Ford headquarters these days. I am sure if Ford could walk back this facility and Blue Oval City they would- but that’s what happens when you hitch your wagon to losers like Gavin Newsome and Sleepy Joe Biden’s commie puppet masters. Ford has invested too much money, and talen too many dollars from the states to abandon these projects.
Broken record.
EV’s aren’t going anywhere. 20 million expected to be sold worldwide this year including 2 million in the US alone. Last year over 17 million were sold across the globe with 1.7 million of those being sold in the U.S. Anyone who bails out now hands that ever growing market over to China, Japan, South Korea and Europe. For Ford and GM to now walk away from this evolution would be idiotic after spending 10’s,if not hundreds of billions, in development, research, engineering, experimentation, products design and production plants. Then again how many billions did Ford blow buying Volvo, Jaguar, Aston Martin and Range Rover only to pay others to take them? Not to mention what they lost on other stupid things like junk yards.
Here in New Zealand when the EV tax credits were removed the price of EVs went down as they were jacked up by the dealers to take advantage of the credit