Ford announced the launch of a new battery development center in Michigan, the first step toward taking on some of the burden of building its own battery cells for electric cars in-house.
The new “global battery center of excellence” will be called Ford Ion Park and will be based in Southeast Michigan. Ford said the purpose is to conduct research on how to go about making its own electric vehicle batteries. A team of 150 experts will work on ways to build EV batteries that are long lasting, quick to charge, and sustainable for the environment. They will also develop a process for making batteries quickly, cheaply, and at scale
“Investing in more battery R&D ultimately will help us speed the process to deliver more, even better, lower-cost EVs for customers over time,” said Hau Thai-Tang, Ford’s chief product platform and operations officer. “We are modernizing Ford’s battery development and manufacturing capabilities so we can better control costs and production variables in-house and scale production around the world with speed and quality.”
Ford will also spend $185 million to establish a collaborative lab dedicated to developing, testing and building EV batteries. The 200,000 square foot facility, set to open late next year, will house equipment for piloting new manufacturing techniques that will allow the company to quickly scale new battery technologies. To show it’s serious about these new initiatives, Ford’s Battery Benchmarking and Test Laboratory will support them. The automaker opened the $100 million, 185,000 square foot facility last year to trial new battery chemistries. Since opening its doors, the facility has tested and analyzed more than 150 different types of cells.
The two new facilities are a strong sign Ford has come to realize battery technology is critically important to a successful EV strategy. Tesla has stayed in front of the competition in no small part due to the range of its vehicles. And it looking to extend that lead with more affordable cells in next two to three years.
