The Ford F-150 Lightning pickup sits on the production line at the Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center on April 26, 2022 in Dearborn, Michigan.
Bill Pugliano | beautiful pictures
Ford Motor said on Thursday that it had secured 100% of the battery supply needed to deliver electric vehicles at a rate of 600,000 per year by the end of 2023 – and that Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology will help it reach 2 million EVs per year by 2026, while reducing the cost of some of Ford’s most popular electric vehicles.
Wall Street investors and analysts have questioned whether global automakers like Ford can supply the batteries and raw materials needed to hit ambitious electric vehicle sales targets. theirs or not. Ford’s announcements are part of a larger presentation intended to show that it has secured many of the supplies it will need.
Ford CEO Jim Farley said: “Ford’s new line of electric vehicles has generated great enthusiasm and demand, and now we’re bringing the industrial system into operation to scale rapidly. quickly”. “Our Model e team moved with speed, focus and creativity to secure the battery capacity and raw materials we needed to deliver ground-breaking electric vehicles to millions of customers.”
“Ford Model e” is the company’s electric vehicle division.
Ford said it will begin offering lower-cost lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery vehicles from Contemporary Amperex, also known as CATL. While LFP batteries offer a slightly shorter range per pound than Ford’s current batteries, they also cost about 10% to 15% less, Ford says — and they will reduce the company’s dependence in minerals such as nickel is expected to be in short supply over the next few years.
Ford will begin offering the Mustang Mach-E with a CATL-supplied LFP battery pack next year and will expand the option to the F-150 Lightning pickup as early as 2024.
At the same time, Ford will rely on its current battery suppliers, South Korean companies LG Energy Solution and SK On, to meet its end-2023 production targets and help it reach 2 million EVs per year. in 2026.
Ford said that up to now, it has secured about 70% of the battery capacity needed to support the goal later. The automaker said the automaker signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with CATL to explore a larger relationship that could make up much of the rest of the foundation.
