Ford to build $3.5B electric vehicle battery plant in Mich.

By TOM KRISHER and JOEY CAPPELLETTI
Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) — Ford Motor Co. plans to build a $3.5 billion factory in Michigan that would employ at least 2,500 people to make lower-cost batteries for a variety of new and existing electric vehicles. The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker says Monday that the plant will be built on land being readied for industrial development about 100 miles west of Detroit near Marshall. Ford said it would start making batteries in 2026 and would crank out enough batteries to supply 400,000 vehicles per year. The factory would produce batteries with a lithium-iron-phosphate chemistry, which is cheaper than the current nickel-cobalt-manganese chemistry now used in many EV batteries.