Photo: Moment RF
A major new project by Ford to make batteries for electric vehicles is raising alarms because it could be dominated by… China.
“Take a look at this,” said national security analyst Edward Turzanski, “and ask yourself ‘what are the vulnerabilities that we are subjecting ourselves to?’”
To create a reliable U.S.-based supply of batteries for vehicles, Ford is starting a new plant in Marshall, Michigan.
And the company is developing the project in partnership with the Chinese company Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited, CATL.
“We need to keep in mind,” Turzanski warned, “that any business sourced in China that is permitted to do business in the United States, or any other foreign country, is tied to the Chinese government, to the communist party, and to the military.”
Ford had declared that its only connection to CATL is in licensing its battery technology but job listings seem to show show that CATL’s American subsidiary has been involved in doing the hiring for the Ford battery facility.
Turzanski says Ford may be placing a higher priority on its own bottom line than on American national security. “Ford is so heavily invested in electric vehicles, that’s it’s prone to make deals like this,” he warned. “And if a Chinese company is the one that calls the shots, Ford goes along. And I think that’s a tremendous vulnerability in terms of the United States as a whole.”
The project is being subsidized by the state of Michigan and some Republican state lawmakers are now challenging the arrangement, as well as the governor, Democrat Gretchen Whitmer.
Turzanski says the Trump Administration may also get involved, having demonstrated tougher vigilance about Chinese incursion into American businesses. “They actually have ill intent,” he said. “This administration, I think, is going to look differently at things like this. The flags will be red. This is going to get attention. This is going to be ‘Exhibit A.’”