Ningde era enters the United States, provides technology and jointly builds the first lithium iron phosphate battery factory in the United States with Ford – WSJ

Ningde era produced technology, Ford provided funds, and a power battery factory with a planned investment of 3.5 billion US dollars was “officially announced” to land in the United States.

It is reported that on Monday (February 13), Ford Motor CEO Jim Farley announced in Detroit, Michigan, the United States,It will cooperate with Ningde Times, a Chinese company and the global power battery leader, to invest 3.5 billion US dollars (about 23.88 billion yuan) in Marshall, Michigan to build a new lithium iron phosphate power battery factory.

On February 14, Ningde Times stated that Ningde Times has accepted the cooperation invitation from Ford of the United States, will provide preparation and operation services for the new battery factory, and license battery patented technology.

In terms of the cooperation model, the two parties are not joint ventures. Ford said,The new factory will be operated by a wholly-owned subsidiary of CATL, with CATL providing technology and expertise to produce cells。

In this cooperative mode,Ningde era will give Ford battery CTP (no module battery pack) paid technology license. After that, Ningde employees will help the factory start construction and operation, provide technical and service support for factory production, and Ford engineers will be responsible for the integration of batteries and complete vehicles.

Because there is no direct investment involved, the plant is eligible for production tax credits under the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act. Ford Motor also told the media that the plant is expected to be built about 160 kilometers west of Detroit, covering an area of ​​about 769 hectares, which can provide at least 2,500 local jobs. It is reported that the factory is expected to be put into operation in 2026, and some equipment will come from China.

Looking at the global power battery market, North America is quite attractive. Data show that the sales of new energy vehicles in the United States will reach 992,000 in 2022, approaching the million mark, a year-on-year increase of nearly 52%.

But for the Ningde era, its plan to build a factory in the United States can be described as twists and turns.

As early as July 2022, Ford announced plans to procure batteries and raw materials to meet its annual electric vehicle production goals, including a partnership with CATL. At that time, many media reported that Ningde Times would provide lithium iron phosphate battery packs for Ford’s all-electric SUV Mustang Mach-E in North America from 2023, and provide phosphoric acid for the all-electric truck model F-150 Lightning in early 2024. Lithium iron battery pack.

Ford’s move to use lithium iron phosphate batteries in its product portfolio for the first time seems to be an optimistic trend, but CATL’s expansion plans soon ran into resistance.

In August of that year, the Biden administration promulgated various measures, including export controls, to restrict US companies’ investment in China’s technology sector. For example, cars containing battery components and raw materials from “foreign entities of concern” (China, Russia, Iran and North Korea) are prohibited from receiving these tax credits.

Moreover, the original candidate address of the Ningde era factory was Virginia. But in December of that year, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, announced that Virginia had withdrawn from the project’s siting candidate.

Pressure also comes from competitors. According to the data, two of the three battery factories jointly established by LG New Energy and GM have been put into production and received a loan of 2.5 billion yuan from the U.S. Department of Energy. In the future, they will cooperate with Honda and Stellantis to build battery factories in the United States; Samsung SDI will Cooperate with Stellantis; SK On will cooperate with Hyundai Motor and Ford Motor; Japan’s Panasonic will cooperate with Tesla to produce batteries in Nevada, and plans to set up another battery factory in Kansas in 2025; Guoxuan Hi-Tech and Envision Power also announced plans to build battery plants in Michigan and South Carolina in 2022.

Whether it can bind more car companies through pure technology is one of the conditions for Ningde era to occupy the market first. According to the latest statistics from SNE research, a global information agency, in 2022, the installed capacity of power batteries in Ningde era will reach 191.6 GWh, and the global market share will reach 37%, which is equivalent to BYD, LG new energy, Panasonic and SK. On the addition of the market share of the four giant power batteries.

For Ford, stable and high profits are undoubtedly the goal it pursues.

Prior to this cooperation, Ford and Ningde Times had reached an agreement in 2022: Ningde’s lithium iron phosphate batteries will be used in the Mustang Mach-E electric vehicle in 2023, and in the F-150 Lightning electric truck in 2024. Ford will also receive a stable battery supply from the Ningde era in 2020.

At present, Ford electric vehicles use nickel-cobalt-manganese ternary lithium batteries. Since lithium iron phosphate batteries do not contain rare metals such as nickel and cobalt, the price is cheaper and the safety is higher. This is the first lithium iron phosphate battery produced in the United States. The new battery factory will help Ford increase the production and profit margins of electric vehicles, Jim Farley said, “The battery of the new factory will be one of the lowest production costs, and it will reduce the pricing of electric vehicles. Automakers are more profitable as a result.”

In addition to lower costs and higher profits, Marin Gjaja, chief customer officer for Ford’s electric vehicle division, expects electric vehicles powered by batteries from the new factory will qualify for half of the federal government’s up to $7,500 tax credit . Because it meets the requirements of local production of electric vehicles and batteries in the United States, but does not meet the localization requirements for battery material procurement.

A more optimistic outlook is that this tax credit could increase to the full amount over time as the sourcing of raw materials such as minerals shifts domestically. In addition to the subsidy for consumers buying cars, the new factory batteries will also be eligible for a federal subsidy of $35 per kilowatt-hour cell and $10 per battery pack.

In addition, Ford Motor is strengthening its domestic electric vehicle manufacturing supply chain to help it achieve its goal of producing 2 million electric vehicles per year globally by 2026, and currently has about 70% of the batteries needed to achieve this goal production capacity. By 2026, Ford expects to invest $50 billion in the development and manufacture of electric vehicles, and strives to achieve an 8% profit margin in the electric vehicle business.

Author of this article: Wu Guan, source:surging newsoriginal title: “Ningde era entered the United States, provided technology and jointly built the first lithium iron phosphate battery factory in the United States with Ford”