MARSHALL TOWNSHIP, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Ford Motor Company Monday afternoon confirmed it will invest $3.5 billion to build a new electric vehicle battery plant near Marshall, saying the project will create 2,500 jobs and that the type of batteries being made will help lower the cost of EVs.
The Ford subsidiary plant, to be named BlueOval Battery Park Michigan, be built at the ‘Marshall Megasite’ on 2,000 acres plot near the intersection of I-94 and I-69 in Marshall Township, just west of the city of Marshall. Battery production is set to begin in 2026.
Ford CEO Jim Farley, Executive Chair Bill Ford and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced the battery park at a news conference in Romulus Monday afternoon.
Ford’s new plant will make lithium iron phosphate, or LFP, batteries, which the automaker said are the latest in EV battery technology and rely on easier to get and less expensive materials.
Bill Ford said, “These batteries will be more affordable, incredibly durable and they’ll charge faster. Manufacturing these new batteries in America will help us build more EVs faster and will ultimately make them more affordable for our customers.”
Shortly before Ford’s news conference, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation Michigan Strategic Fund board unanimously approved a total of $246 million in grants and loans to support the plant, which includes a critical industry program performance-based grant of up to $210 million to support the $3.5 billion capital investment and the 2,500 new jobs, and a $36 million Jobs for Michigan Investment Fund loan to the Marshall Area Economic Development Alliance to purchase, improve and convey the parcels for the project.
“It has been truly a team Michigan win here,” MEDC President and CEO Quentin Messer said. “We’re very grateful and look forward to a promising continued evolution and relationship between this iconic Michigan company, the mobility sector and the Marshall community.”
Pay for the new jobs will range from $20 per hour and $50 per hour.
