Automotive: Ford abruptly halts work on EV Battery Plant

Losing their shirt on EVs, Ford Motor Co. is halting work on a $3.5 billion plant in Marshall, Michigan, that would make batteries for electric vehicles.

The announcement came after the automaker in July projected its EV unit would lose $4.5 billion this year, about 50 percent more than initially expected, and that it was slowing its plans to increase EV production, according to Reuters.

“We’re pausing work, and we’re going to limit spending on construction at Marshall until we’re confident about our ability to competitively run the plant,” Ford spokesman T.R. Reid told the Detroit News on Monday.

If completed, the plant will be located on a 950-acre site in southern Michigan near the town of Marshall. Ford’s plans were to employ 2,500 people when the plant opened for production in 2026

Reid said a “number of considerations” were at work in the decision, but would not speak to the UAW talks.

“We haven’t made a final decision about the investment there,” Reid said of the Marshall site.

EVs are a Financial Disaster without Government Subsidies

The administration of Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer agreed to give Ford $1.7 billion in incentives.

In a statement posted to X (formerly Twitter), UAW President Shawn Fain called the decision “a shameful, barely-veiled threat by Ford to cut jobs.”

“Closing 65 plants over the last 20 years wasn’t enough for the Big Three, now they want to threaten us with closing plants that aren’t even open yet,” he said in the statement. “We are simply asking for a just transition to electric vehicles and Ford is instead doubling down on their race to the bottom.”