Behind Ford's plans to produce batteries

According to foreign media reports, Ford's new CEO Jim Farley publicly stated that Ford will change its strategy and consider self-produced power lithium battery cells. He also bluntly stated that “as the sales of electric vehicles increase, this is a natural approach.” Jim Farley believes that electric vehicle parts are reduced by 40% compared to fuel vehicles, which means that pure electric vehicle assembly is simpler. When the output of electric vehicles accounts for 25% to 50% of the entire industry, automobile companies have to face the problem of job reduction. The way to solve this problem is to enter the field of battery production. It is worth noting that Jim Hackett, the former CEO of Ford, once stated that Ford will not produce batteries for its own electric vehicles. As an old traditional car manufacturer, Ford has no advantage in the production of power lithium batteries. The two generations of Ford 'heads' had different ideas on self-produced batteries, to a large extent because of their different work histories. According to data, former Ford CEO Jim Hackett was in charge of Ford SmartMobility's self-driving car project before becoming Ford head. After taking control of Ford, the focus of transformation has been on the level of self-driving. Jim Farley, the current CEO of Ford Motor Company, pays more attention to the development of emerging technologies. He once served as President of Emerging Business, Technology and Corporate Strategy at Ford, and was mainly responsible for software platforms, Internet of Vehicles, artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, and new energy vehicles. The strategic research and public layout of the company. During the change of coaching, Ford also reported that it plans to invest 1.8 billion Canadian dollars (approximately 9 billion yuan) to transform the Oakville assembly plant in Ontario, Canada into a factory that can produce batteries and electric vehicles in 2024. The public remarks this time are also regarded as further affirmation of Ford's strategy of self-produced batteries. At present, Ford is accelerating the implementation of its global electrification strategy. Recently, Ford announced a new pure electric van E-Transit, which has become an important part of its electrification process. According to its global electrification strategy, it will invest more than 11.5 billion U.S. dollars (approximately RMB 75.4 billion) to develop new energy vehicles by 2022, and draw inspiration from the most iconic superior products such as Mustang, pickup trucks, light commercial vehicles and SUVs. . In fact, in order to meet the demand for power lithium batteries under its own new energy vehicle strategy, car companies including Tesla, GM, Volkswagen, Daimler and other car companies have already planned for the supply of power lithium batteries. Among them, Tesla's current power lithium battery suppliers include CATL, Panasonic and LG Chem. After cooperating with Panasonic in the Gigafactory battery production project, Tesla also launched the 'Roadrunner' power lithium battery self-production plan, and has begun to plan the long-term supply of upstream materials for power lithium batteries. In order to ensure the supply of power lithium batteries, GM and LG Chem established a joint venture UltiumCells. The two parties will invest US$2.3 billion, each holding 50% of the shares, and the project is under construction. Volkswagen invested approximately 1.1 billion euros (approximately 8.6 billion yuan) to obtain a 26.47% stake in Guoxuan Hi-Tech and became its largest shareholder. Daimler participated in the IPO strategic placement of Funeng Technology for RMB 900 million and established a far-reaching strategic partnership with Funeng Technology. Therefore, the industry speculates that Ford plans to produce its own batteries and does not rule out that it will choose to establish a joint venture with a battery manufacturer to prepare for future production of electric vehicles.