Ford pauses construction on $3.5 billion EV battery plant

Ford Motor Co. announced on Monday, Sept. 25, that it is pausing construction on its Marshall, Michigan, electric vehicle battery plant. The $3.5 billion electric vehicle plant was on track to create 2,500 jobs and begin producing EV batteries by 2026.

The pause in construction comes as Ford negotiates a contract with the United Auto Workers union. On Sept. 15, thousands of union workers went on strike as Detroit’s Big Three auto manufacturers — General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler-parent Stellantis — failed to reach a deal with UAW.

In a statement, UAW President Shawn Fain said the move by Ford was unjust.

“This is a shameful, barely veiled threat by Ford to cut jobs. Closing 65 plants over the last 20 years wasn’t enough for the Big Three, now they want to threaten us with closing plants that aren’t even open yet,” Fain said. “We are simply asking for a just transition to electric vehicles and Ford is instead doubling down on their race to the bottom.”

On the other side, Ford has received a lot of local opposition to the EV battery factory from Marshall residents. Experts said that may have to do with the Chinese technology the plant planned on using in its batteries.

A wholly owned subsidiary of Ford would run the plant. Still, according to Ford, the technology used to make the batteries, including some machinery and some employees, would be supplied by China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., or CATL.

Republican state Rep. Sarah Lightner said in a statement that the reason for the pause is likely due to business and energy policies put in place by Democrats.

Gov. Whitmer threw $1.7 billion in taxpayer dollars at Ford to bring its new EV plant to Marshall, but even that wasn’t enough to make the company turn a blind eye toward the anti-business climate the Democrat majority has created,” Rep. Lightner said.

Rep. Lightner added that not all of the $1.7 billion in incentives through the state has been dished out, and there are clawback provisions in place for what has been.