The company said the 200,000-square-foot facility will have the equipment to design, test and do small-scale manufacturing of battery cells and packs
Aiming to take control of battery development for electric vehicles, Ford Motor Co. is planning to set up a battery development centre in Detroit by the end of this year to research and build prototype lithium-ion and solid-state cells.
Ford has reportedly also revealed plans to invest $185 million in battery development and prototype manufacturing operations in an operation with 150 employees to be called Ford Ion Park, as per Reuters.
The company said the 200,000 square-foot facility will have the equipment to design, test and do small-scale manufacturing of battery cells and packs. The lab also will develop electronic controls and other items as Ford moves more of the process in-house, as per an Associated Press report.
In light of the current chip crunch, the company wants to do large-scale manufacturing of its own batteries globally in the future.
Ford’s chief product platforms and operations officer Hau Thai-Tang said electric vehicles are moving from early adopters to an early majority as new models come out, and Ford wants to lead the transition.
“We now see that the market is going to develop very quickly, and we will have sufficient scale to justify having greater levels of integration,” he said. “We will no longer take an approach of hedging our bets and planning around the uncertainty of how fast that will play out.”
Despite these plans, the company has not yet dismissed battery suppliers, saying it still could partner with suppliers, universities and startups on the technology.
