Reading The LFP Battery Tea Leaves In Ford’s New Strategy

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The Ford Motor Firm set the Intertubes buzzing yesterday when the corporate introduced a significant shift in its car electrification plan. When it comes to the worldwide automotive market, the information was lower than shocking, however buried all the best way down on the backside was an fascinating element in regards to the firm’s new LFP EV battery.

The Excessive Price Of An EV Battery

The EV battery area is heading for yet one more makeover as automakers like Ford scout for tactics to chop prices. The concentrate on cost-cutting is correct up there firstly of the yesterday’s announcement, the place the corporate attracts consideration to the “advantaged cost structures” of competitors in China, including that “today’s electric vehicle consumers are more cost-conscious than early adopters.”

“We learned a lot as the No. 2 U.S. electric vehicle brand about what customers want and value, and what it takes to match the best in the world with cost-efficient design,” defined Ford President and CEO Jim Farley, with No. 2 being a veiled reference to the longstanding No. 1 EV model within the US, Tesla.

Tesla launched into the market 14 years in the past with a beneficiant mortgage from the US authorities, geared toward conserving the US auto trade aggressive with abroad corporations within the world advanced vehicle market.

That intention has been partly realized, however US automakers are going through a brand new wave of abroad competitors. Chopping down the persistently excessive price of an EV battery would assist make a distinction.

“An affordable electric vehicle starts with an affordable battery,” Farley defined. “If you are not competitive on battery cost, you are not competitive.”

The Fall Of The Sedan & The Rise Of The LFP EV Battery

When it comes to classes discovered from the No. 1 EV model in regards to the US market, Ford’s new electrification plan displays an consciousness that at present’s automobile consumers love pickup vans, whether or not or not they use them to select something up in addition to groceries. The marketplace for small business vans can also be operating sizzling. These developments dovetail with the expansion of gig work, facet hustles, and small companies within the US. Many households may use a household automobile that doubles as a piece car. Sedans can match the invoice for some jobs, however a bigger, extra sensible car is a necessity for others.

With this in thoughts, an costly, top-of-the-line EV battery with a super-high vary isn’t a selected precedence for the present wave of EV consumers. In distinction to early adopters, Farley notes that at present’s consumers are “looking to electric vehicles as a practical way to save money on fuel and maintenance, as well as time by charging at home.”

That’s the place the brand new lithium iron phosphate (LFP) EV battery is available in. The iron phosphate a part of an EV battery replaces costlier supplies like nickel and cobalt. In contrast to the provision chain for typical lithium-ion batteries, LFP batteries can depend on home sources (see extra LFP background here).

All the best way down on the backside of yesterday’s press launch — about 30 paragraphs down — Ford lastly drops this nugget:

“Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery production is on track to begin in 2026 at BlueOval Battery Park Michigan – America’s first automaker-backed LFP battery plant – qualifying for Inflation Reduction Act benefits and giving Ford one of the lowest-cost battery cells in North America.”

A New EV Battery For The New Thriller Truck

As for which EVs will get the brand new LFP battery, Ford dropped a touch into yesterday’s announcement, when the corporate up to date the timeline for its “T3” next-generation thriller truck. Ford teased the T3 truck project final 12 months, noting that growth workforce selected T3 — “Trust The Truck” — because the venture code title.

“The team’s single guiding principle has been to create a truck people can trust in the digital age – one that’s fully updatable, constantly improving, and supports towing, hauling, exportable power and endless new innovations owners will want,” Ford defined in a press launch dated March 24, 2023.

In yesterday’s press launch, Ford defined that it expects the T3 to roll off the meeting line within the second half of 2027. That’s later than initially deliberate, however the timing will coincide with a next-generation EV battery, LFP or not.

“Retiming the launch allows the company to utilize lower-cost battery technology and take advantage of other cost breakthroughs while the market continues to develop,” Ford defined.

To Hybrid Or Not To Hybrid? Or To Gas Cell?

For probably the most half, the rest of the press launch explains why Ford is taking an enormous monetary hit in some areas with the intention to re-focus consideration on the demand for hybrid autos of 1 type or one other, together with three-row SUVs and the following technology of its F-Sequence Tremendous Obligation pickup.

Doing the mathematics, Ford calculates {that a} bigger car requires an even bigger EV battery pack, which makes it costlier. The thought is to offer extra reasonably priced choices by pairing smaller battery packs with inside combustion engines. That’s a lower than very best answer by way of speedy electrification, nevertheless it does slot in with the family vehicle-as-a-multitasker idea.

Conspicuously absent from yesterday’s announcement was any point out of a gasoline cell electrical car, which is one other approach of resolving the EV battery price situation. Gas cell autos don’t get rid of batteries altogether, however they don’t require a big battery pack for propulsion.

On the down facet, gasoline cells are costly, and so is the hydrogen gasoline that makes them go. The Biden administration’s new $7 billion Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs program may assist take among the sting out, notably with reference to the price of green hydrogen from renewable assets.

In the meantime, the rising consensus is that gasoline cell passenger automobiles are a non-starter within the US market. Nonetheless, gasoline cells may nonetheless discover a foothold amongst heavier courses of autos that require extra energy, and Ford has been investigating that choice as properly.

Again in 2022, CleanTechnica took notice of a forthcoming pilot take a look at for Ford’s F550 fuel cell prototype work truckin collaboration with the agency Ferguson Enterprises. Southern California Gas can also be a part of the venture, beneath the umbrella of the Vitality Division’s “Super Truck 3” heavy-duty truck decarbonization program. In an replace issued earlier this 12 months, SoCalGas indicated that the truck venture is on monitor for operation in 2025.

Whereas that’s on the again burner for the US market, Ford can also be launching fuel cell electric trucks abroad, so keep tuned for extra on that.

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Picture: Ford Motor Firm is banking on a brand new, low-cost LFP EV battery system to assist its EV sales strategy (courtesy of Ford).