Ford Vice President Says Nickel-Based Batteries Will Remain Popular

Ford is currently utilizing – and investing in – many different kinds of electric vehicle battery chemistries, which makes sense given the fact that we aren’t exactly sure which will ultimately prove to be the preferred one. It stands to reason that we’ll continue to see more than one type of EV battery present in vehicles for the foreseeable future, which is already the case – at least, until one of them proves superior in more ways than one. In that realm, Ford Vice President Lisa Drake believes that nickel-based batteries will remain popular for the foreseeable future.

“So, I mean we’ve been in the hybrid space for over two decades now. I mean our first HEV was in 2004. So, it’s the Escape Hybrid. And so, we spend a lot of time with the battery suppliers and we know the nickel-based chemistries pretty well,” Drake said at the recent 2025 Jefferies Industrials Conference. “I’d say they’re going to stay probably the dominant chemistry and then we’ll use the LFP where we need to compete.”

Drake also touched on the fact that Ford plans to remain open to all EV battery chemistries in the short-term, saying that “we’ve already gone from a high nickel-based chemistry to a mid-nickel-based chemistry to an LFP chemistry to now we have LMR which is a manganese rich chemistry.” LFP – lithium-iron phosphate – batteries are also starting to gain steam, as they can be charged to 100 percent without degradation concerns, are cheaper to produce, and pose less of a fire risk, too.

Ford will be using technology licensed from China-based CATL to build its own LFP batteries at the under-construction BlueOval Battery Park Michigan plant starting in 2026, which will be used in a variety of future products – including, at first, a yet-to-be-named mid-size pickup. The automaker already utilizes LFP packs in the standard range Ford Mustang Mach-E crossover as well.