According to “Automotive News”, Ford Motor Company has abandoned plans to produce electric vehicle battery materials in Bécanour, Quebec, Canada, and has withdrawn from a joint venture factory being built there.
Amid high costs and tepid demand, the company has slowed down the launch of electric vehicles.
, Photo source: Ford Motor Company, In August 2023, Ford, EcoPro BM and SK On announced that they would build a battery materials factory worth more than US$890 million in Becancourt.
It is expected to produce 45,000 tons of nickel cobalt manganese battery cathode active materials every year starting in 2026, enough to supply approximately 225,000 Ford electric vehicles.
, “After assessing changes in electric vehicle technology, costs and business needs, we have decided not to join the joint venture as a shareholder,” Ford Canada spokesman Said Deep said in a statement on November 19.
However, Deep stressed that Ford “remains committed” to building a profitable electric vehicle business and exploring “investment opportunities in Canada.
” However, even if Ford withdraws from the project now, construction of the plant will continue.
EcoPro said in a statement,”With clean energy, skilled labor, and strong support from the federal and Quebec governments, we remain confident in Quebec’s potential as a cathode material manufacturing center.
Our goal is to complete the Beccanur factory as soon as possible, and we are full of confidence in the future of the electric vehicle industry.
” However, the company would not comment on the status of the joint venture, citing “sensitive information.
” Similarly, SK On declined to comment.
, Conrad Layson, an analyst at AutoForecast Solutions in the United States, revealed that the Quebec factory that Ford exited this time has been suspended for two long periods this year, one of which was this fall, and EcoPro may use this time to adjust the factory to provide cathode materials needed by the North American market.
Layson believes that EcoPro will definitely find buyers for products from the Becancourt factory.
Although Ford chose to withdraw from the joint venture, it may become one of the potential buyers, and given Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen’s relationship with SK, they may also become customers of the factory.
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