In light of the current strike and the Republican lawmakers’ close examination of its Chinese partner, Ford has announced that it is postponing the building of a $3.5 billion electric vehicle battery factory in Michigan. AFP reported that a company representative claimed the decision regarding the $3.5 billion battery factory had nothing to do with the ongoing strike and was instead based on the plant’s economic feasibility.
As part of the statement, Ford spokesman TR Reid stated, “We’re stopping work and limiting expenditure on construction on the Marshall project until we’re sure about our ability to operate the plant competitively…Regarding the plant investment there, we haven’t made any decisions that are final.
Ford wanted to build a plant close to Marshall, Michigan that would employ around 2,500 people and make enough batteries to power about 400,000 electric vehicles annually.
As an effort to diversify its battery profile away from nickel cobalt manganese (NCM), which is expensive to create due to a lack of raw materials, Ford unveiled the Michigan plant in February of this year. Ford has previously stated that starting in 2026, it will collaborate with its Chinese partner Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. to produce lithium iron phosphate batteries.
However, according to Bloomberg, some Republican senators have accused Amperex of having ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
Union Walkouts and the end of Ford’s Battery Plant’s pause:
According to Reuters, the $3.5 billion announcement also coincides with negotiations with the United Auto Workers union, which seeks to represent the workers at the company’s battery factory and secure them top compensation. Since September 15, the UAW, which represents about 57,000 hourly Ford workers in the US, has been walking out against Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis. One vehicle assembly facility from each of the manufacturers was initially the focus of the strike by the union, which later extended it to parts warehouses.
UAW President Shawn Fain said on X, “This is a disgraceful, thinly disguised threat by Ford to remove workers… The Big Three decided that eliminating 65 facilities in the last 20 years was insufficient, so they now want to threaten us with closing plants that aren’t even operational yet.
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