Michigan locals are mounting resistance against Ford’s new battery plant partnered with a Chinese company.
The factory will be owned by Ford through a wholly-owned subsidiary without foreign investment; Chinese EV battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) will provide the battery technology, some equipment, and Chinese workers. The plant is expected to start operating in Marshall, a small township 100 miles west of Detroit, in 2026.
During a February press conference announcing the deal, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, said the factory’s expected creation of 2,500 jobs will “build on Michigan’s economic momentum.”
Some locals disagree. They are concerned about the CATL’s communist backing, and the associated national security risk, loss of prime farmland, the lack of transparency in the process, and an oversize industrial park’s impact on a small town….