Ford's new LFP battery plant in Marshall, Michigan

[awilli1010]

Ford-Owned American LFP Battery Plant Paves Way for Next-Gen Electric Vehicles

https://www.fromtheroad.ford.com/us...erican-battery-plant-future-electric-vehicles

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[Ventorum94]

Ford-Owned American LFP Battery Plant Paves Way for Next-Gen Electric Vehicles

https://www.fromtheroad.ford.com/us...erican-battery-plant-future-electric-vehicles

LFP batteries have longer lives, can be routinely charged to 100% without longterm degredation, and perhaps best of all: there’s less rapid release of energy from a cell puncture…. in other words, they don’t catch fire! I have an LFP pack in one of my Teslas, and it’s performance and reliability have been awesome.

 

[Firn]

LFP batteries have longer lives, can be routinely charged to 100% without longterm degredation, and perhaps best of all: there’s less rapid release of energy from a cell puncture…. in other words, they don’t catch fire! I have an LFP pack in one of my Teslas, and it’s performance and reliability have been awesome.

Yes! Although, it would be nice if they weren't so darn heavy

 

[Ventorum94]

Yes! Although, it would be nice if they weren't so darn heavy

They are less energy-dense, that’s also true. For the same size/weight as the Lightning’s present NMC (nickel manganese cobalt) pack, an LFP pack will have fewer kWh. But if you can routinely charge the LFP to 100%, compared to an NMC’s say, 80%, there really isn’t a proportional penalty in usable range. But LFP are also cheaper to manufacture, and along with improved longevity and safety, it’s a move in the right direction, imho.

 

[electricpig]

It's my understanding (certainly not expert on the subject), but the very very fast charging battery packs the Chinese have, are based on LFP cells. Hopefully Ford will be able to include very fast charging rates in these LFP batteries. Would make a real 240 mile range much more palatable.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Ford EV Battery Plant Won’t Be Killed By Trump Bill After All

 

[Kev12345]

Also rocking an LFP Tesla. It’s awesome. Love the fact that it doesn’t have nickel or cobalt, less likely to catch fire and will last much longer than an NMC counterpart. Bring on the LFP trucks!

 

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

LFP can not be charged - at all - below freezing temps, and should have charging rate reduced as the battery pack approaches freezing temps.
Discharge rate is also reduced near and below freezing temperatures.

LFP is affected by higher temperatures as well, and should not be left for long periods of time above 30-35C (86 - 95). Degrade above 40C (104 F) is rapid and irreversable.

Generally LFP is 'happy' in temperatures people are happy. - I have a 131 kWh home solar Energy Storage System made with LFP cells from EVE LF304Ah prismatic cells. I keep them between 15-20C (60-70F) all year round for best performance.

If anyone is interested in a deeper dive, I have the spec sheets from EVE stating the effects of temperatures on cycle counts, and limits for charging and discharging with temperature.

 

[Lightning Rod]

LFP pros and cons are interesting.

 

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

There seems to be some EV's (NIO) using a combined LFP & NMC battery pack - trying to get the benefits from both chemistries.

The point above about LFP being not fire hazard is not entirely correct, ie LFP if over-charged will release flamable gases like Hydrogen, Carbon-monoxide and Methane. The battery management systems avoid this by cutting off charging at the appropriate voltage. Better to say LFP is generally less of a fire risk than Li-NMC.

 

[Firn]

There seems to be some EV's (NIO) using a combined LFP & NMC battery pack - trying to get the benefits from both chemistries.

The point above about LFP being not fire hazard is not entirely correct, ie LFP if over-charged will release flamable gases like Hydrogen, Carbon-monoxide and Methane. The battery management systems avoid this by cutting off charging at the appropriate voltage. Better to say LFP is generally less of a fire risk than Li-NMC.

I think the big difference with LFP on the fire front is that it is not self oxygenating

 

[GDN]

The headline and article are clear - Ford owns the plant. But - whose technology and patents have they bought? Do we know the company behind it and actually building the batteries? I would hope like heck they've learned their lessons about SK.

 

[electricpig]

The headline and article are clear - Ford owns the plant. But - whose technology and patents have they bought? Do we know the company behind it and actually building the batteries? I would hope like heck they've learned their lessons about SK.

CATL is who they are licensing the battery tech from if I remember correctly. Republicans have tried to make it a poison Bill to get construction shut down

 

[electricpig]

LFP can not be charged - at all - below freezing temps, and should have charging rate reduced as the battery pack approaches freezing temps.
Discharge rate is also reduced near and below freezing temperatures.

LFP is affected by higher temperatures as well, and should not be left for long periods of time above 30-35C (86 - 95). Degrade above 40C (104 F) is rapid and irreversable.

Generally LFP is 'happy' in temperatures people are happy. - I have a 131 kWh home solar Energy Storage System made with LFP cells from EVE LF304Ah prismatic cells. I keep them between 15-20C (60-70F) all year round for best performance.

If anyone is interested in a deeper dive, I have the spec sheets from EVE stating the effects of temperatures on cycle counts, and limits for charging and discharging with temperature.

No doubt that is true for the batteries you are using, but there are many versions of each with their own particulars. Not saying that what Ford will be using is completely immune to the problems you cite. However I do expect they won't be as sensitive, otherwise they would be mostly useless in an EV. Not many places in the US don't reach the temps you cite

 

[TaxmanHog]

Ford EV Battery Plant Does Not Use Raw Materials From China


By Brett Foote
June 27, 2025 3:09 am

Since the project was originally announced a couple of years ago, the under-construction Ford EV battery plant known as BlueOval Battery Park Michigan as faced its fair share of controversy, both from local residents concerned about the plant’s impact on the community and environment, as well as certain lawmakers. The latter are concerned about Ford’s decision to license technology from China-based CATL to build lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) batteries in Michigan, though it seems as if those same units won’t contain any Chinese-sourced raw materials.

“You’ll often hear people say, ‘Well, China holds 90 percent of the raw materials, or you can’t build LFP without Chinese materials,'” Lisa Drake, Vice President, Technology Platform Programs and EV Systems at Ford, told InsideEVs in a recent interview. “I’m here to tell you that that’s not true, that you can build LFP without Chinese critical minerals. It’s very, very difficult to do, but our supply chain team at Ford went and did it.”

Those LFP batteries use a Ford-specific design, but the automaker is licensing a few things from CATL – including the manufacturing process, battery chemistry, and product design. Some employees from CATL will also travel to the BlueOval Battery Park Michigan site to train American workers on how to use the equipment at the plant and assemble the battery packs, which will be used in a variety of future low-cost electric vehicles.

Thus far, Ford has invested $3 billion into BlueOval Battery Park Michigan, which will employ 1,700 people and is slated to feature an annual output of 20 gigawatt hours when it begins production in 2026 – a bit scaled back compared to its original plan, a decision that was made amid softer demand for EVs. As for what vehicles will utilize the LFP batteries set to be built at the future site, one of them is expected to be the first model riding on Ford’s new low-cost EV platform, a mid-size pickup.

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