As Ford Authority previously reported, the under-construction BlueOval Battery Park Michigan site – which will begin building lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) batteries for future EV models starting in 2026 – has been facing a bit of an uncertain future as of late. With a pair of bills currently in Congress aiming to eliminate pending government funding for such projects (as well as the consumer EV tax credit), Ford’s Executive Chairman, Bill Ford, warned that the future battery plant may not survive. However, we’re now receiving further confirmation that the project will continue, regardless of what happens.
“The tax credit obviously changes the dynamic of this whole project, but we’ve seen commitment from Ford over and over again,” said Scott Wolfersberger, mayor of the City of Marshall, according to the Washington Examiner. “They are committed to this facility and making these batteries in the United States in Marshall.”
These comments come roughly a week after Lisa Drake, Ford’s vice president for technology platform programs and EV systems, confirmed that construction at the BlueOval Battery Park Michigan site will continue, no matter what happens with the tax credit. It’s also just the latest in a series of controversies plaguing the plant, which has been criticized by a group of concerned local citizens, as well as lawmakers worried about the fact that Ford is licensing its LFP technology from China-based CATL – though the raw materials for those batteries won’t be sourced from that country of concern.
“We don’t want to back off on this facility,” Drake told reporters during a tour of the unfinished site last week. “When we invest, we stick behind our investments. Ford is a company that will weather the storm until we get there.” Drake added that losing the credits would have a “very material” impact on the finances of the future plant, however, adding that the company would have probably opted to build it outside of the U.S. if it hadn’t been promised financial assistance from the government. “It would really be a shame to build these facilities and then all of a sudden have to scale back on the most important part, which is people,” she said. “It’s 1,700 jobs. They don’t come around all that often.”
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