For The Verge: Ford can’t afford to miss on quality in the EV revolution
On Monday, Ford fired its biggest round yet in the electric vehicle arms race by announcing it would transform 1,900 acres of farmland in rural Marshall, Michigan, into a $3.5 billion electric vehicle and battery factory. Spurred by the economic incentives of the Inflation Reduction Act, the new BlueOval Battery Park Michigan will not only crank out US-made batteries and EVs, but it will also develop new lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries expected to be more durable and faster charging than conventional ones.
A mere 90 miles away in Romulus, however, something else was happening: the plant that produces the electric F-150 Lightning had been sitting idle for about a week as engineers sought to solve an undisclosed battery issue. Ford officials later conceded the problem was a battery fire during a pre-delivery quality inspection that spread to another vehicle.
Both developments made headlines this week. That they came within 24 hours of one another says a lot about the current state of Ford.
