Ford Cuts Size of U.S. EV Battery Plant Using Chinese Technology

Ford Motor Co. has resumed construction on a wholly owned factory in the U.S. state of Michigan which will make electric vehicle (EV) batteries using technology licensed from China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL), but at a reduced size from original plans, as growth in demand for EVs lags expectations.

The U.S. auto giant in February first announced the plant — called BlueOval Battery Park Michigan — where it planned to produce lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries using CATL technology, claiming that the partnership would make it the first carmaker to build both LFP batteries and nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) batteries in the U.S.