In a letter sent to Ford CEO Jim Farley that was shared on Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy expressed "profound concern" at the automaker's deals with Chinese companies and pressed Farley to cut ties with the country. In a response shared with InsideEVs, the carmaker noted that the plant is owned, controlled, and staffed by Ford. "While others continue to import Chinese batteries, Ford is investing to build batteries here in America. The CATL arrangement is a limited technology-licensing and services agreement, not a joint venture or foreign-owned manufacturing operation," the company said.
The Electric Duo's Take
Ford's response is spot on – this is a wrongheaded letter. The Ford Fathom has the potential to be the the first EV sold in the US with LFPbatteries MADE in the US. Every other LFP EV is importing their batteries from China. Yes, Ford will be licensing CATL technology but it is for their US plant that employ US workers.
The DOT letter also brought up the manufacturing of some Lincolns in China that are imported to the US. Ford has already announced they have plans to bring production back to North America but it won't happen overnight. The other issue they brought up was the deal by Ford Europe with Geely – I don't know why the US DOT Secretary is bring up what Ford of Europe is doing.
My take is that this is just another knee jerk reaction by this Administration. Ford is bringing LFP battery production for the Fathom to the US and that should be celebrated. And, the White House did just that last week! They boasted about the investment Ford is making in the Michigan LFP plant as a win for US manufacturing.
