For The Verge: Ford can’t afford to miss on quality in the EV revolution
With the F-150 Lightning under a stop production and shipment order, Ford is facing a familiar problem. A decade of expensive recalls and new-car issues leaves the Blue Oval in a tough spot.
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.