CNBC: Ford to scale back plans for $3.5 billion Michigan battery plant as EV demand disappoints, labor costs rise
Ford said Tuesday that it is cutting production capacity by roughly 43% to 20 gigawatt hours per year and reducing expected employment from 2,500 jobs to 1,700 jobs. The company declined to disclose how much less it would invest in the plant. Based on the reduced capacity, it would still be about a $2 billion investment.
The decision adds to a recent retreat from EVs by automakers globally. Demand for the vehicles is lower than expected due to higher costs and challenges with supply chains and battery technologies, among other issues.
Reductions at the Marshall, Michigan plant are part of Ford’s plans announced last month to cut or delay about $12 billion in previously announced EV investments. The company will also postpone construction of another electric vehicle battery plant in Kentucky.
EVs are today’s Beyond Meat.
As usual, everything other than lack of demand is the issue.
Mustn’t let reality stand in the way of the narrative.
BUT BUT TURDO is giving away BILLIONS of TAX PAYERS’ $$$$$$. to build ANOTHER BATTERY PLANT in BC and I believe in Eastern Canada………………..I guess TURDO knows better than anyone else…………MORON
The Spawn knows a good business case when he sees it.
The Spawn knows a good situation for money laundering. I wonder how much Ford is kicking back to the Liberals and his own accounts
10% for the Big
GirlGuy.They’re probably doing it because of the Liberal’s gigantic battery investment, the failing business concept is being offloaded onto the Canadian taxpayer, kind of normal really.
Ford has always been my brand.
Sometimes they do things I don’t agree with and sometimes they’ve done some downright stupid or illegal things. Not unlike any giant multi-national.
I think EVs are neat but wouldn’t own one unless it was a third or fouth car for me personally.
That said, it comes as no surprise that production is being cut back. Raising wages for unskilled jobs only caused the cost of already expensive cars to rise even more.
What did the labour union think would happen when you increased labour input costs by 20%?
Good on Ford for stepping back from this fiscal abyss.
Some day, EVs may make sense. We’re not there yet and I don’t imagine that day will come for another 20+ years unless there’s a meaningful breakthrough in battery technology. Add in the need to upgrade the grid throughout North America, upgrade generation and the creation of reliable charging network for people who can’t charge at home and the whole thing sounds pretty unlikely in the next 20 years.
They simultaneously want to put everyone in Soviet style housing blocks with no access to outside power and force everyone into EVs. In other words, ban personal transportation ownership.
You won’t be getting an EV. The goal is public transit for all the little people.
Not even public transport for us plebes, joe. It’s either shank mare or sit in your 10 x 10 (that’s feet, not meters) with your two roommates.
Here’s an opportunity for our government!!
If people could live in their electric cars, that would solve a lot of problems!
And create more housing for Palestinian refugees!
We can pay to bring the plant up here and then import a zillion more foreign workers. With the CDN$ in the tank it makes sense. (Unless you’re a taxpayer).
Everybody is building a battery facility. Nobody is investing in the supply chain.
The new air batteries are much lighter.
You think those will be lightweight, just wait ’til the helium batteries come out, roaddog.
All these batteries – and no assaults!
Step 1. Highlight projected carbon neutral dates regardless of how unfeasible.
Step 2. Destroy consumer confidence (see Step 1)
Step 3. Encourage major automakers with massive subsidies to pursue the EV market.
Step 4. Weaken said major automakers by waiting on them to make massive billion dollar investments in EV market, then pull the subsidies resulting in cut backs and layoffs.
Step 5. Focus on shutting down domestic drilling, increasing drilling and refinery regulation, install state and federal mileage taxes, deplete the federal oil reserve and don’t replenish, increase fuel taxes on growing prices.
Step 6. Insist on the switch to EV’s despite no effort being made to increase the capacity of the electrical grid, while simultaneously increasing the demand (inclusive of making natural gas appliances illegal)
Step 7. Upon combustion engine vehicles prices growing to enter the same cost level of EV’s due to the previously listed pressure, once again encourage the automakers to fully concentrate on EV’s. A second round of taxpayer subsidies will liberally be applied to assure the death rattle on combustion engine vehicle industry.
Step 8. Upon confirmation of a majority of the vehicles on the road being EV’s announce restrictions on use due to the electrical grid never being modernized to accommodate the growing demand.
9. Restrict personal travel on a ration basis.
(This could never happen….right?)
Ooops, forgot the most important Step.
Step 10: Application for ration based personal travel requires departure and destination as well as established time frame of travel. All EV vehicles applying for travel permission must be equipped with an approved tracking device to assure compliance. Violations of established travel permits are subject to criminal prosecution.
No problem, the US government is mandating shut down switches on all cars in the next few years. That will allow the government the ability to shut you down wherever you are. People who would allow that to happen need to die.
My guess is before these plants ever get operational the projects will be abandoned. Pick any reason for this but the case for EV battery market viability will become apparent to even the federal government. Not the Bongs government and the strangest thinking cabinet ever assembled in the history of the country but a successor government.
The taxpayers money will have been stolen. Unrecoverable. Half built plants or ones that never operated successfully will stand as hollowed out monuments to the stupidity of the Bong and the Soviet era thinkers in his cabinet.
Once again, just like GM’s EV1, the oil companies have sabotaged this magnificent technology. Sarcasm off.
Yeah, but things will change for the better once that Ontario battery plant where turdo and blubber douggie pissed away our multi-billion$ gets up and running … right?
I feel strangely confused about this issue, without dear Jenn’s valiant efforts to put us some knowledge.
What the hell did I just read? Since when do we express production capacity in terms of gigawatt hours? Seriously? Is this some sort of mind control to get us all thinking the future is electric?
Next, they’ll be telling us the battery factory is powered exclusively by solar panels
Puhleeze
You’re right, of course, Kenji. Alternative energy should be measured in giggle-watt hours.
Money for nothing. Maybe this time the powers that be will permit incompetently managed auto manufacturers to go bankrupt and go AWAY.