A $3.5 billion battery plant to be constructed by Ford and Chinese battery manufacturing CATL could be located in Marshall, Michigan.
Ford has not stated where it plans to construct the battery plant, nor has it even named specific sites it is considering, nor the states in which they’re located. Nevertheless, the chief executive of the Marshall Area Economic Development Alliance that controls the 1,900-acre site, Jim Durian, says that at least two companies are interested in it.
Speaking with Auto News, chief executive of the Michigan Economic Development Corp (MEDC), Quentin Messer, said the state was “aggressively” pushing for the project.
Read: Virginia Scraps $3.5B Ford Plant As It Would “Serve As A Front For The Chinese Communist Party”
“Michigan is always talking to Ford and any of our large employers,” he said. “We talk in general about making sure that Michigan remains a competitive environment for opportunity. There’s a lot of competition for this opportunity, both across the U.S. and also our friends in Canada and also in Mexico. So we are aggressively competing and out-hustling and out-competing, and we’ll see what happens.”
Michigan’s acknowledgment that it is competing for the battery plant comes shortly after the governor of Virginia pulled his state from consideration because CATL is a Chinese company, claiming the factory would serve as a “Trojan horse” for China to enter the U.S.
The site in Michigan is located near the I-69 and I-94 interchange and has been marketed by the Marshall Area Economic Development Alliance for development for a decade.
Messer told Auto News that the MEDC “will use every available tool that we have in our toolbox” to secure a deal with Ford and CATL, but failed to provide specifics about the generous tax incentives it is thought to be offering.
Jim Durian added that the megasite is “closer now than it has ever been” to securing a deal but noted it’s now playing a waiting game.
“We just have to wait it out,” he said. “It could be a matter of weeks. It could be longer. I don’t know. It’s just hard to tell with these projects.”
