Ford scaling back on battery plant in Michigan

ISTANBUL

US-based automaker Ford announced Tuesday that it is scaling back on its battery plant project in the state of Michigan.

"While we remain bullish on our long-term strategy for electric vehicles, we are re-timing and resizing some investments. As stated previously, we have been evaluating BlueOval Battery Park Michigan in Marshall," it said in a statement.

The company said it is trying to balance investment, growth and profitability and added the facility is now planned to create more than 1,700 jobs to produce a planned capacity of approximately 20 gigawatt-hours (GWh) -- 43% less than before.

Ford's initial plan for the plant was for 35 GWh to provide 2,500 jobs.

The company announced in February that it plans to build a $3.5 billion facility in Michigan to make cheaper lithium iron phosphate batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) instead of nickel manganese cobalt that is currently used in EVs.

BlueOval Battery Park Michigan is expected to start producing battery cells in 2026.