Ford establishes a global battery innovation center to accelerate research and development of power batteries

China Automotive News, April 28th, today, Ford Motor Company announced the establishment of a new global battery innovation center Ford Ion Park to accelerate the research and development of power battery packs and battery cell technology, as well as future power battery manufacturing.

With nearly 20 years of battery research and development experience, Ford has formed a 150-person expert team that brings together battery technology development, research, manufacturing, planning, procurement, quality control, and finance. Elites to help Ford accelerate the process of Ru0026D and manufacturing of battery cells and battery packs.

The Global Battery Innovation Center team will also collaborate with other Ford teams, such as Ford’s new battery benchmarking and testing laboratory and experts from Ford’s customer service department, as well as major suppliers and partners, to jointly explore Integration and innovation opportunities in the entire value chain of batteries, including all links from battery raw material acquisition to recycling.

In addition, Ford Motor also spent US$185 million to build a cooperative learning laboratory in southeastern Michigan, which will be dedicated to the development, testing and manufacturing of vehicle power battery cells and battery arrays. The laboratory plans It will be put into use later next year.

This world-class laboratory covers an area of u200bu200bmore than 18,000 square meters, and will be equipped with a series of experimental equipment for the design and manufacture of electrodes, battery cells and battery arrays, and will use the world's leading equipment and technology to explore and innovate Battery manufacturing technology will enable Ford to rapidly scale up breakthrough battery cell designs using new materials, and help the vertical integration of battery cells and battery pack mass production.

The team of the Global Battery Innovation Center will optimize battery technology based on different user insights to meet the diverse needs of trucks, SUVs, commercial vehicles and rental customers for vehicle performance and capabilities. This requires Ford to create unique batteries and technologies that can not only meet the requirements of truck customers for excellent towing and off-road capabilities, but also meet the requirements of rental customers around the world for driving efficiency in frequent start and stop road conditions.

In addition to the battery innovation center and cooperative learning laboratory, Ford has opened a battery benchmarking and testing laboratory at the end of last year. The laboratory has 150 battery test boxes and 325 test channels. Investment Reached 100 million US dollars, covers an area of u200bu200bmore than 17,000 square meters, and has completed the test and analysis of more than 150 battery cells. Through rapid testing and determining the best battery cell and chemical composition, it provides the best power options for Ford's increasingly diverse lineup of electric vehicles to better meet the needs of different customers.

This world-leading battery benchmarking and testing laboratory has a battery cell and battery pack test room, test bench and benchmark facilities for battery cell design verification, control calibration, battery pack development and Development of experimental battery packs using different chemical compositions. The laboratory can simulate the performance of mass-produced battery packs in extreme weather conditions and extreme car scenarios, thereby accelerating the application process in future mass-produced models.

It is reported that Ford Motor announced earlier this year that it plans to invest more than US$22 billion in electrification by the end of 2025, to develop smart electric vehicles, focusing on superior areas, and from its most popular stars. The model brand began its electrification journey.

In the North American market, Ford Mustang Mach-E has achieved initial success. In addition, the pure electric version of the Ford Transit will be launched at the end of this year, and the pure electric version of the F-150 will be launched in the middle of 2022. In Europe, Ford will achieve 100% pure electric for all models by 2030. Before 2024, Ford's European commercial vehicle product line will have zero emission capabilities (pure electric or plug-in hybrid). Ford will also invest US$1 billion to build a new electric vehicle manufacturing center in Cologne, Germany, and start producing large quantities of pure electric passenger vehicles for European customers from 2023.

From left to right: Ford F-150 pure electric version, Ford Transit pure electric version, Ford Mustang Mach-E

In the Chinese market, Ford has announced the price of the domestic version of Mustang Mach-E, and recently announced the establishment of an electric vehicle business unit, adopting a direct sales model and establishing an exclusive electric vehicle sales network, and plans to take the lead in 20 cities across the country Open city stores to directly serve users. In addition, Ford will also work closely with charging partners such as State Grid and NIO to provide electric vehicle customers with more than 300,000 high-quality public charging piles covering more than 340 cities across the country, including more than 160,000 fast charging piles.