Ford Motor Co. said it will continue building its $3 billion battery plant in Marshall, Mich., after President Donald Trump’s newly enacted $3.4 trillion budget legislation retained key production tax credits that an earlier proposal by Congress would have eliminated.
“Ford is committed to making the best, most cost-effective batteries for the next generation of electric vehicles in the United States,” the company said in a July 8 statement. “BlueOval Battery Park Michigan is on track to qualify for the production tax credit — a win for our customers and a win for American competitiveness.”
Executives in May said the project would be in peril if a bill passed by the House of Representatives was adopted into law because it would have disqualified Ford from receiving Biden-era production tax credits because of its affiliation with Chinese battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited. But the Senate’s version of the bill that ultimately was adopted has language allowing Ford to still qualify for the credits.
The 2-million-square-foot plant about 100 miles west of Detroit is slated to open in 2026 to make lithium iron phosphate batteries for future EVs using some intellectual property from CATL. The facility is a key piece of Ford’s efforts to create affordable EVs to rival Chinese companies such as BYD.
The Biden-era production credits offer $35 per kilowatt-hour for battery cells and $10 per kilowatt-hour for battery modules or pack assembly. Ford says the site has the capacity to produce 20 gigawatt-hours per year.
The House version barred the credits from going toward projects that involve a licensing agreement with a foreign entity of concern, which includes CATL. The final Senate-drafted version uses criteria about which party is in “effective control.”
Ford has maintained it is in control because it owns the site, equipment and workers. CATL will train the workers on battery cell manufacturing as well as how to use the equipment.
The automaker stepped up its lobbying efforts in June as the bill was making its way through Congress, sending plant managers, manufacturing leaders and dealers to meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Lisa Drake, Ford’s vice president of technology platform programs and electric vehicle systems, told reporters in June that the tax credits had became a lifeline to the site amid slowing EV adoption rates and it would be unfair to take away incentives that were promised when the project began.
“Because our timeline for investment is so long, when these rules change so fast, they’re very material for us,” Drake said in June. “We don’t want to back off on this facility. If anything, we want to go faster.”
The project has been criticized by some nationally and locally for involving a Chinese company.
Ford originally committed to investing $3.5 billion and employing 2,500 workers when it announced the project in early 2023. It stopped work in September 2023 to reassess its “ability to competitively operate the plant” and downscaled the plan before resuming construction a few months later.
Ford says the LFP batteries the plant will make charge faster, last longer and cost less than other types. The company has said it will launch an electric midsize pickup in 2027 on a new low-cost platform, although it has not yet confirmed that the truck would use cells from the Marshall plant.
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