Ford and CATL Launch First U.S. LFP Battery Plant

On June 30, at the annual conference of the China Automotive Battery Industry Innovation Alliance, Meng Xiangfeng, Vice President of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL), announced that the battery plant in Michigan, USA—jointly developed by CATL and Ford Motor Company—has been completed and has commenced cell production. Named the "Michigan BlueOval Battery Park," the facility is wholly owned by Ford and marks the first lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery plant in the United States. With an annual capacity of 35 GWh, it is expected to supply batteries for approximately 400,000 electric vehicles (EVs). The plant plans to hire 800 employees by the end of this year, with its workforce eventually expanding to 1,700. The project follows a collaboration model in which Ford finances land acquisition while CATL provides the technology. Meanwhile, CATL’s factories in Debrecen, Hungary, and Indonesia are also scheduled to begin operations within this year. The Hungarian plant represents an investment of €7.34 billion and has a planned capacity of 100 GWh, making it CATL’s second manufacturing base in Europe. The Indonesian facility, on the other hand, establishes a fully integrated supply chain—from mining to battery production. The successive launch of these three overseas plants signifies CATL’s strategic shift from exporting products to pursuing localized investment and integrated production abroad. The commissioning of the Michigan plant enables Ford to use LFP batteries manufactured domestically in the U.S. for the first time in its EV supply chain, helping reduce reliance on imported Chinese batteries. However, the plant’s current usable capacity of 20 GWh can only meet the needs of around 200,000 EVs—still significantly short of Ford’s long-term goal of selling one million EVs annually.