On April 28th, Ford announced the establishment of a new global battery innovation center, Ford Ion Park, to accelerate the research and development of power battery packs and battery monolithic technologies, as well as future power battery manufacturing.
"with increasing consumer awareness and desire for zero-emission electric vehicles that are fun to drive, Ford has expanded its production of pure electric models around the world," said Hau Thai-Tang, Ford's chief product and platform operating officer. "increased investment in battery research and development will accelerate our process of popularizing better electric cars to our users."
Accelerate the research and development of power battery pack and battery monomer technology
With nearly 20 years of battery research and development experience, Ford has formed a 150-person team of experts, bringing together elites in battery technology development, research, manufacturing, planning, procurement, quality control and finance. to help Ford accelerate the process of R & D and manufacture of battery units and battery packs.
The Global Battery Innovation Center team will also collaborate with other Ford teams, such as experts from Ford's new battery calibration and testing lab and Ford customer service department, as well as major suppliers and partners, jointly explore opportunities for integration and innovation in the battery full value chain, including all aspects from battery raw material acquisition to recycling.
It is reported that the global battery innovation center team has begun to work. In addition, Ford is spending $185 million to build a cooperative learning laboratory in southeastern Michigan, which will be used specifically to develop, test and manufacture on-board power battery units and arrays. The lab is scheduled to be operational later next year.
This world-class laboratory with an area of more than 18000 square meters will be equipped with a range of experimental equipment for the design and manufacture of electrodes, battery monomers and battery arrays, and will use the world's leading equipment technology to explore innovative battery manufacturing technology. this will enable Ford to quickly scale up breakthrough battery monomer designs using new materials and vertically integrate mass production of battery monomers and battery packs.
In addition to the Battery Innovation Center and the Collaborative Learning Lab, Ford launched the Battery Calibration and Test Lab at the end of last year, which has 150 battery test boxes and 325 test channels with an investment of US $100 million. it covers an area of more than 17000 square meters and has completed the test and analysis of more than 150 battery units.
It is reported that since Ford founder Henry Ford and Thomas Edison jointly developed electric cars, Ford has been actively engaged in battery and electric vehicle research. So far, Ford has obtained more than 2500 US patents for electrification technology, and another 4300 patents are pending.
Invest more than $22 billion in electrification by the end of 2025
Ford announced earlier this year that it plans to invest more than $22 billion in electrification by the end of 2025 to develop smart electric vehicles, focusing on areas of advantage and starting its electrification journey from its most popular star model brand.
In the North American market, Ford Mustang Mach-E has achieved initial success. In addition, the Ford Quanshun pure electric version will be available at the end of this year, and the Fmuri 150 pure electric version will be available in mid-2022.
In the European market, Ford will achieve 100% pure electric in all its models by 2030. By 2024, Ford's entire line of commercial vehicles in Europe will have zero emission capability (pure electric or plug-in hybrid). Ford will also invest $1 billion to build a new electric vehicle manufacturing center in Cologne, Germany, to produce large quantities of all-electric passenger cars for European customers from 2023.
In the Chinese market, Ford has announced the price of the domestic version of Mustang Mach-E, and recently announced the establishment of the Electric vehicle Division, adopting the direct sales model and establishing its own electric vehicle sales network, and plans to take the lead in opening city stores in 20 cities across the country to directly serve users. In addition, Ford will work closely with charging partners such as National Electroweb and Xilai to provide electric vehicle customers with more than 300,000 high-quality public charging piles, including more than 160000 quick-charging piles, in more than 340 cities across the country.
Since 2004, Ford has sold more than 1 million hybrid, plug-in hybrid and pure electric models, and the power batteries used in mass-produced models have also developed to the fourth generation. By the end of this year, Ford will start producing electrified products at more than 15 powertrain and vehicle plants around the world.
