Ford To Develop Electric Batteries At New Southeast MI Center

DEARBORN, MI — Ford Motor Co. on Tuesday announced a new global battery center called Ford Ion Park, which the company said will be located in southeast Michigan.

The center will help the company accelerate its research and development of battery and battery cell technology — as well as future battery manufacturing, the company said.

“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, Ford's chief product platform and operations officer. “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.”

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer commended Ford on the move, saying it will help bring Innovative talent to the state.

“Ford is an American icon that has left its mark on the world over a century, and with this new facility and their research, they will shape the next century while reducing emissions and accelerating electrification," she said in a statement.

The Ford Ion Park team also is exploring integration and innovation opportunities across all aspects of the value chain — including from mines to recycling — working with all teams within the company, officials said in a news release Tuesday.

“We are creating new tools and solutions we need for a carbon-free, affordable and better future,” Thai-Tang said. “We are modernizing Ford’s battery development and manufacturing capabilities so we can better control costs and production variables in-house and scale production around the world with speed and quality.”

Ford said its Ford Ion Park team already is underway. In addition to the team, a $185 million collaborative learning lab in Southeast Michigan that is dedicated to developing, testing and building vehicle battery cells and cell arrays opens late next year, according to the release.

The company said Anand Sankaran will lead the Ford Ion Park team as its new director. A 30-year veteran of Ford, Sankaran, a 30-year veteran of Ford, brings to the new position decades of battery and electrification expertise, the company said.

Sankaran also holds 32 U.S. patents in automotive power electronics and hybrid vehicle technologies and is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

“Ford’s modern EV journey started with Escape Hybrid in 2004, the world’s first hybrid SUV, and it continues today — all driven by the inspiration to deliver no-compromise vehicles for a better world,” he said.