American giant has high hopes Ford Motor the next day at electromobility, hence investing $3.5 billion in an electric vehicle battery plant in southwest Michigan, which will notably work with technology and support from a Chinese battery maker. And this choice of his, apparently, caused political confrontations. The plant near Marshall, Michigan, will employ 2,500 workers, Ford said on Monday, confirming a Feb. 10 Bloomberg report. The plant is due to start operating in 2026 and will produce enough batteries to power 400,000 electric vehicles a year. The American automaker will base its manufacturing process on the battery experience of China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd. (CATL), which will help build a plant and hire staff there. Ford also stressed that it would own and operate the plant and would create an entirely new subsidiary to manage it. CATL is the world’s largest manufacturer of batteries for electric vehicles.

“Ford has everything under control, which means production control, production control, workforce control,” Lisa Drake, Ford’s vice president of electrification, said at a press briefing. “CATL grants us a license for the relevant technology.” The deal, which aims to provide tax breaks for the plant, has drawn criticism at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions between the US and China, especially over a Chinese balloon that overflew America and was shot down. Virginia Governor Glen Jungin withdrew his state’s offer as a possible site for the Ford plant, calling it a “Trojan horse” for the Chinese Communist Party. “It’s very unfortunate that Governor Jungin had some misinformation,” Drake said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “We hope that with our announcement today, it is crystal clear that Ford controls the plant.” The events coincide with the possibility that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will meet with senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi at a security conference later this week, according to Bloomberg. This will be the first face-to-face meeting since the balloon crash.

The goal is to produce 400,000 electric vehicles annually from 2026.

Drake said CATL staff will help install the factory equipment to produce batteries, some of which will be shipped from China. And some of those employees will stay at the Michigan plant forever because “we need their help,” he added. Finally, at a ceremony Monday in Michigan to announce the plant’s construction, Ford executive chairman Bill Ford, great-grandson of founder Henry Ford, described his company’s relationship with the Chinese conglomerate as a way to strengthen US autonomy. production of batteries for electric vehicles, which currently come mainly from Asia.