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China Throws Giant Wrench Into Ford EV Battery Plant Plans


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“We don’t misappropriate [intellectual property] at Ford,” she said. “You just can’t use it without that. You’ll be in violation of a piece of paper that has passed across the globe. It’s just a means to get that back.” Drake noted that the entire project “got caught up in the political storm,” adding that licensing the LFP battery tech is “the right thing to do” for both jobs and Ford’s future EV projects.”

 

A couple points of interest:

– China does misappropriate intellectual property.  Just sayin’

 

- The right thing to do is develop your own technology, and not be reliant on the enemy. Perhaps you should’ve worked out our licensing deal with Tesla instead, an American company.  

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6 hours ago, tbone said:

 

- The right thing to do is develop your own technology, and not be reliant on the enemy. Perhaps you should’ve worked out our licensing deal with Tesla instead, an American company.


Yeah, never understood getting in bed with an enemy.  Not sure Tesla has battery technology that can solve this problem though.  Do they not also license batteries from various sources as well?  AFAIK LG and Panasonic are owned by friendly countries so perhaps less of a risk?  At least for now South Korea and Japan are on better terms.  In any case it’s good to see Panasonic open new large plant in Kansas.  Beats importing batteries from China.

 

https://insideevs.com/news/765796/panasonic-worlds-largest-battery-plant-tesla-kansas/

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On 7/18/2025 at 1:48 AM, tbone said:

- The right thing to do is develop your own technology, and not be reliant on the enemy. Perhaps you should’ve worked out our licensing deal with Tesla instead, an American company.  

 

On 7/18/2025 at 9:01 AM, Rick73 said:

.Beats importing batteries from China.

 

They are using the tech to make the batteries, that is what the issue is, they aren't coming from China, plus Ford has developed their own batteries, but that is another 3-5 years out for production. 

https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2025/04/24/ford-ev-battery-lithium-manganese-rich/83231092007/

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On 7/18/2025 at 8:01 AM, Rick73 said:


Yeah, never understood getting in bed with an enemy.  Not sure Tesla has battery technology that can solve this problem though.  Do they not also license batteries from various sources as well?  AFAIK LG and Panasonic are owned by friendly countries so perhaps less of a risk?  At least for now South Korea and Japan are on better terms.  In any case it’s good to see Panasonic open new large plant in Kansas.  Beats importing batteries from China.

 

https://insideevs.com/news/765796/panasonic-worlds-largest-battery-plant-tesla-kansas/

 

 

5 hours ago, Sherminator98 said:

 

 

They are using the tech to make the batteries, that is what the issue is, they aren't coming from China, plus Ford has developed their own batteries, but that is another 3-5 years out for production. 

https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2025/04/24/ford-ev-battery-lithium-manganese-rich/83231092007/


Yeah, I misread my source of information related to Tesla and LFP. It appears Tesla is also licensing CATL technology in order to build its LFP batteries. There was indication that they were in the process of developing their own technology however, that apparently has not come to fruition yet. So it appears the LFP batteries they’re building in the Giga, Nevada, factory are not proprietary.

 

I can see at some point how batteries will be a commodity, but during these early years, they can be a strategic advantage. With that said, I wonder if there shouldn’t be more collaboration between the US manufacturers on battery development in order to rid themselves of Chinese reliance.  

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