Ford Motor Company has made an important stride in its strategic move to primarily electric vehicles (EVs) with the creation of Ford Ion Park, a global battery center focused on future battery manufacturing, specifically for all-EVs.
At the beginning of 2021, Ford Motor Company, much like every other automotive OEM, made a strategic decision to sell predominately EVs moving forward after 2025, investing some $22 billion for future research. Additionally, Ford said it will sell only all-EVs in Europe by 2030, a dramatic shift from what it is selling today. Ford is also investing $1 billion in an EV manufacturing center in Cologne, Germany, for all-electric passenger vehicles specifically for European customers beginning in 2023.
“We’re already scaling production of all-electric vehicles around the world as more customers experience and crave the fun-to-drive benefits of electric vehicles with zero emissions,” said Hau Thai-Tang, chief product platform and operations officer at Ford. “Investing in more battery R&D ultimately will help us speed the process to deliver more, even better, lower cost EVs for customers over time.”
Ford Ion Park is exploring better integration and innovation opportunities across the value chain — from mines to recycling — working with teams within Ford including its new Battery Benchmarking and Test Lab, Ford Customer Service Division and key suppliers.
In addition to the 200,000 sq ft learning lab, Ford is opening a $185 million collaborative learning lab in southeast Michigan that is dedicated to developing, testing and building vehicle battery cells and cell arrays later this year.
Ford Ion Park will include pilot-scale equipment for electrode, cell and array design and manufacturing and will use new technology to pilot new manufacturing techniques. This will allow Ford to scale breakthrough battery cell designs with novel materials. The batteries will be optimized for all vehicles from daily commuter cars to performance enthusiasts and commercial vehicle fleet operators.
Battery Benchmarking and Test Lab, which was introduced last year, will test and identify battery cells and chemistries for Ford’s EV lineup. The lab has 150 test chambers and 325 channels for development work and have already analyzed more than 150 types of battery cells.
The lab houses test rooms, test benches and benchmarking facilities to support battery cell design, control calibration, pack development and pilot battery pack projects with different chemistries. The lab can replicate full-scale production batteries under extreme weather and customer use cases.
