Ford F-150 Lightning pickup vans sit on the manufacturing line on the Ford Rouge Electrical Automobile Heart on April 26, 2022 in Dearborn, Michigan.
Invoice Pugliano | Getty Pictures
Ford Motor mentioned Thursday that it has secured 100% of the battery provides wanted to ship electrical autos at a price of 600,000 per yr by the tip of 2023 – and that Chinese language battery large Contemporary Amperex Technology will assist it get to a price of two million EVs per yr by 2026, whereas lowering the prices of a few of Ford’s hottest electrical fashions.
Traders and Wall Road analysts have questioned whether or not world automakers like Ford will be capable to supply the batteries and uncooked supplies wanted to hit their bold EV gross sales targets. Ford’s bulletins have been half of a bigger presentation supposed to indicate that it has already secured a lot of the provides it would want.
“Ford’s new electrical car lineup has generated big enthusiasm and demand, and now we’re placing the economic system in place to scale rapidly,” Ford CEO Jim Farley mentioned in a press release. “Our Mannequin e staff has moved with pace, focus and creativity to safe the battery capability and uncooked supplies we have to ship breakthrough EVs for tens of millions of consumers.”
“Ford Mannequin e” is the corporate’s electric-vehicle division.
Ford mentioned that it’s going to start providing autos with lower-cost lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries from Modern Amperex, higher often called CATL. Whereas LFP batteries present considerably shorter vary per pound than Ford’s present batteries, in addition they value about 10% to fifteen% much less, Ford mentioned – and they’ll scale back the corporate’s reliance on minerals equivalent to nickel which are anticipated to be in brief provide over the subsequent few years.
Ford will start providing its Mustang Mach-E with CATL-supplied LFP battery packs subsequent yr, and can develop the choice to its F-150 Lightning pickup truck in early 2024.
On the similar time, Ford will lean on its present battery suppliers, the Korean firms LG Vitality Resolution and SK On, to satisfy its late-2023 manufacturing targets and to assist it get to finally 2 million EVs per yr by 2026.
Ford mentioned as of now, it has already secured about 70% of the battery capability wanted to help that latter purpose. The automaker has signed a non-binding memorandum with CATL to discover a bigger relationship that would make up a lot of the remaining floor, it mentioned.
