New Ford venture to build 2 electric vehicle battery plants
TOM KRISHER, AP Auto Writer
May 20, 2021
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FILE - In this April 25, 2021 file photograph, the blue oval logo of Ford Motor Company is shown in east Denver. Ford plans to open a battery development center near Detroit by the end of next year. The company said the 200,000-square-foot facility will have equipment to design, test and even do small-scale manufacturing of battery cells and packs.David Zalubowski/AP
DETROIT (AP) Ford is forming a joint venture with one of its battery suppliers that will build two North American factories to make batteries for roughly 600,000 electric vehicles per year by the middle of this decade.
SK s battery plant under construction in Commerce, Ga.
DETROIT Ford Motor and South Korean battery maker SK Innovation on Thursday announced they will form a battery joint venture in North America to support the No. 2 U.S. automaker s electric vehicle rollout.
The companies said they have signed a memorandum of understanding for the formation of the venture, called BlueOvalSK. Reuters on Wednesday reported plans for the joint venture.
Details of the venture s ownership structure will be set in the finalized agreement, expected later this summer, Ford said.
The plan is for the partnership to produce about 60 gigawatt-hours annually in traction battery cells and array modules, starting mid-decade, with potential to expand, the companies said.
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Ford and SK Innovation today announce they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a joint venture – to be called BlueOvalSK – to manufacture battery cells and arrays in the U.S.
BlueOvalSK to produce approximately 60 gigawatt hours (GWh) annually with potential to expand, starting mid-decade
By 2030, Ford expects annual energy demand for its vehicles will be up to 140 GWh annually in North America and up to 240 GWh globally; the company has invested in and is working with a number of battery suppliers to secure capacity and scale delivery for next-generation Ford and Lincoln battery electric vehicles
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Ford is forming a joint venture that will build two North American factories to make batteries for roughly 600,000 electric vehicles per year by the middle of this decade.
The deal with battery maker SK Innovation of Korea, announced Thursday, sets up a potential confrontation between the companies and the United Auto Workers, which issued a statement saying Ford has a moral obligation to make sure plant workers are paid union wages.
The UAW and President Joe Biden have advocated for union jobs in new factories as the country transitions from gasoline-burning vehicles to those powered by electricity. The issue almost certainly will be part of negotiations on a new UAW national contract in 2023.