Dane Hardware, Ford Motor design and release engineer, and Mary Fredrick, Ford battery validation engineer, measure the voltage of a battery using a digital multi-meter at Ford’s Battery Benchmarking and Test Laboratory in Allen Park MI.
Ford Motor today announced a new global battery “center of excellence “ called Ford Ion Park in southeast MI. It is supposed to accelerate research and development of battery and battery cell technology, including future battery manufacturing – areas where Ford is lagging behind other automakers, notably General Motors in the US and global makers such as BMW, Nissan, Toyota and Honda. See AutoInformed on:
The facility will house a cross-functional team of 150 experts in battery technology development, research, manufacturing, planning, purchasing, quality and finance. Ion Park workers are said to be exploring better integration and innovation opportunities across all aspects of the value chain – from mines to recycling – working with all teams within Ford, including experts at Ford’s new Battery Benchmarking and Test Laboratory also in Allen Park, Ford Customer Service Division, as well as suppliers and partners.
The Ion Park team is already underway. In addition, a $185 million collaborative learning lab dedicated to developing, testing and building vehicle battery cells and cell arrays opens late next year. (Volkswagen Group Starts Small Scale EV Battery Recycling)
“We’re already scaling production of all-electric vehicles around the world as more customers experience and crave the fun-to-drive benefits of electric vehicles with zero emissions,” said Hau Thai-Tang, Ford’s chief product platform and operations officer. “Investing in more battery R&D ultimately will help us speed the process to deliver more, even better, lower cost EVs for customers over time.” (GM Needs Range, Battery Cost Cuts to Speed EV Plans)
The 200,000 sq.-ft. learning lab will include pilot-scale equipment for electrode, cell and array design and manufacturing and will use “state-of-the-art technology to pilot new manufacturing techniques” that could let Ford quickly scale “breakthrough battery cell designs with novel materials.” That is once the company vertically integrates battery cells and batteries. (Ford – EVs Present Environmental, Human Rights Issues)
Anand Sankaran will lead the Ford Ion Park team as its new director. A 30-year veteran of Ford, Sankaran brings to the new position decades of battery and electrification expertise – including his current role as the company’s director of Electrified Systems Engineering, as a 1999 Henry Ford Technology Award winner for his electrification work at the Ford Research Lab and a product development worker who applied his research and technical innovations on production vehicles, including the original Escape Hybrid, 2021 Mustang Mach-E and 2022 F-150 Hybrid. Sankaran also holds 32 U.S. patents in automotive power electronics and hybrid vehicle technologies and is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
“While some automakers have placed their bets, we are going to use this lab with the help of partners and suppliers to fine-tune our batteries to our vehicles and customer needs – exploring next-generation lithium-ion solutions, including solid-state batteries,” Sankaran said.
Ford’s Battery Benchmarking and Test Laboratory, which opened late last year, has 150 test chambers and 325 channels for development work. Experts at the $100 million, 185,000 sq.-ft. lab already have analyzed more than 150 types of battery cells.
The state-of-the-art lab houses battery cell and pack test rooms, test benches and benchmarking facilities to support battery cell design validation, controls calibration, pack development and pilot battery pack projects with different chemistries. The lab team can replicate the performance of full-scale production batteries under extreme weather and customer use cases, speeding implementation in future vehicles.
Ford this year announced its commitment to invest at least $22 billion through 2025 to deliver connected, electrified vehicles, building on its areas of strength, starting with EV versions of its most popular nameplates. In North America, the Ford Mustang Mach-E found some early sales success, claims Ford. The all-electric Ford Transit is set to go on sale late this year and the all-electric F-150 arrives by mid-2022. (All-Electric Ford Mustang Mach-E ‘SUV’ Debuts in 2020, Ford Motor Recalls All 2021 Mustang Mach-E Crossovers, 2021 Mustang Mach-E GT and GT Performance Edition On Sale)
In Europe, Ford is slowly moving to an all-electric lineup by 2030, with its commercial vehicle range 100% zero-emissions capable – all-electric or plug-in hybrid – by 2024. Ford also is investing $1 billion in a new electric vehicle manufacturing center in Cologne to build a high-volume all-electric passenger vehicle for European customers starting in 2023. (Ford Europe is Planning on Shifting Passenger Cars to All EVs by 2030, Commercial Vehicles Will Eventually Follow)
In China, Ford is preparing to produce the Mustang Mach-E for local customers later this year, and recently announced it is establishing a BEV division with a direct sales model and network that will reach 20 major cities across China this year. In addition, Ford has partnered with China’s State Grid and NIO to offer EV customers access to more than 300,000 public charging stations, of which 160,000 are fast-charging, in more than 340 cities across the country. (Ford to Manufacture Mustang Mach-E in China)
By year-end, the company will be manufacturing electrified vehicles and supporting technologies at more than 15 powertrain and vehicle assembly plants globally. Ford has assembled hybrid battery packs and electric motors in Michigan since 2012, after making the state its center of excellence for vehicle electrification in 2010.
That same year, Ford invested $135 million to design, engineer and produce these components for hybrids. It included a combined 170 jobs at the Rawsonville plant to assemble batteries and VanDyke Transmission plant to assemble e-motors, plus hiring more than 50 electric vehicle engineers.
Ford Ion Park – New Global Battery R&D Site in Michigan
Dane Hardware, Ford Motor design and release engineer, and Mary Fredrick, Ford battery validation engineer, measure the voltage of a battery using a digital multi-meter at Ford’s Battery Benchmarking and Test Laboratory in Allen Park MI.
Ford Motor today announced a new global battery “center of excellence “ called Ford Ion Park in southeast MI. It is supposed to accelerate research and development of battery and battery cell technology, including future battery manufacturing – areas where Ford is lagging behind other automakers, notably General Motors in the US and global makers such as BMW, Nissan, Toyota and Honda. See AutoInformed on:
The facility will house a cross-functional team of 150 experts in battery technology development, research, manufacturing, planning, purchasing, quality and finance. Ion Park workers are said to be exploring better integration and innovation opportunities across all aspects of the value chain – from mines to recycling – working with all teams within Ford, including experts at Ford’s new Battery Benchmarking and Test Laboratory also in Allen Park, Ford Customer Service Division, as well as suppliers and partners.
The Ion Park team is already underway. In addition, a $185 million collaborative learning lab dedicated to developing, testing and building vehicle battery cells and cell arrays opens late next year. (Volkswagen Group Starts Small Scale EV Battery Recycling)
“We’re already scaling production of all-electric vehicles around the world as more customers experience and crave the fun-to-drive benefits of electric vehicles with zero emissions,” said Hau Thai-Tang, Ford’s chief product platform and operations officer. “Investing in more battery R&D ultimately will help us speed the process to deliver more, even better, lower cost EVs for customers over time.” (GM Needs Range, Battery Cost Cuts to Speed EV Plans)
The 200,000 sq.-ft. learning lab will include pilot-scale equipment for electrode, cell and array design and manufacturing and will use “state-of-the-art technology to pilot new manufacturing techniques” that could let Ford quickly scale “breakthrough battery cell designs with novel materials.” That is once the company vertically integrates battery cells and batteries. (Ford – EVs Present Environmental, Human Rights Issues)
Anand Sankaran will lead the Ford Ion Park team as its new director. A 30-year veteran of Ford, Sankaran brings to the new position decades of battery and electrification expertise – including his current role as the company’s director of Electrified Systems Engineering, as a 1999 Henry Ford Technology Award winner for his electrification work at the Ford Research Lab and a product development worker who applied his research and technical innovations on production vehicles, including the original Escape Hybrid, 2021 Mustang Mach-E and 2022 F-150 Hybrid. Sankaran also holds 32 U.S. patents in automotive power electronics and hybrid vehicle technologies and is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
“While some automakers have placed their bets, we are going to use this lab with the help of partners and suppliers to fine-tune our batteries to our vehicles and customer needs – exploring next-generation lithium-ion solutions, including solid-state batteries,” Sankaran said.
Ford’s Battery Benchmarking and Test Laboratory, which opened late last year, has 150 test chambers and 325 channels for development work. Experts at the $100 million, 185,000 sq.-ft. lab already have analyzed more than 150 types of battery cells.
The state-of-the-art lab houses battery cell and pack test rooms, test benches and benchmarking facilities to support battery cell design validation, controls calibration, pack development and pilot battery pack projects with different chemistries. The lab team can replicate the performance of full-scale production batteries under extreme weather and customer use cases, speeding implementation in future vehicles.
Ford this year announced its commitment to invest at least $22 billion through 2025 to deliver connected, electrified vehicles, building on its areas of strength, starting with EV versions of its most popular nameplates. In North America, the Ford Mustang Mach-E found some early sales success, claims Ford. The all-electric Ford Transit is set to go on sale late this year and the all-electric F-150 arrives by mid-2022. (All-Electric Ford Mustang Mach-E ‘SUV’ Debuts in 2020, Ford Motor Recalls All 2021 Mustang Mach-E Crossovers, 2021 Mustang Mach-E GT and GT Performance Edition On Sale)
In Europe, Ford is slowly moving to an all-electric lineup by 2030, with its commercial vehicle range 100% zero-emissions capable – all-electric or plug-in hybrid – by 2024. Ford also is investing $1 billion in a new electric vehicle manufacturing center in Cologne to build a high-volume all-electric passenger vehicle for European customers starting in 2023. (Ford Europe is Planning on Shifting Passenger Cars to All EVs by 2030, Commercial Vehicles Will Eventually Follow)
In China, Ford is preparing to produce the Mustang Mach-E for local customers later this year, and recently announced it is establishing a BEV division with a direct sales model and network that will reach 20 major cities across China this year. In addition, Ford has partnered with China’s State Grid and NIO to offer EV customers access to more than 300,000 public charging stations, of which 160,000 are fast-charging, in more than 340 cities across the country. (Ford to Manufacture Mustang Mach-E in China)
By year-end, the company will be manufacturing electrified vehicles and supporting technologies at more than 15 powertrain and vehicle assembly plants globally. Ford has assembled hybrid battery packs and electric motors in Michigan since 2012, after making the state its center of excellence for vehicle electrification in 2010.
That same year, Ford invested $135 million to design, engineer and produce these components for hybrids. It included a combined 170 jobs at the Rawsonville plant to assemble batteries and VanDyke Transmission plant to assemble e-motors, plus hiring more than 50 electric vehicle engineers.