Posted on 16 Nov 2023
Ford Otosan, the joint venture of Ford and Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding, plan to source batteries for its commercial electric vehicle production from LGES existing facilities.
The companies had previously planned to build a 45 gigawatt-hour battery gigafactory in Ankara, Turkey to supply Ford Otosan’s Kocaeli plant and Turkish EV company TOGG. The agreement announced in February called for production to start in 2026, at 25 GWh. The deal was Ford and Koc’s second attempt, as a previous agreement with SK On had failed.
However, Koc Holding said last Friday it revoked the agreement due to market conditions, Kallanish notes.
“Considering the current pace of electric vehicle adoption, the timing is not appropriate for a battery cell investment,” Koc Holding says in a statement to the public disclosure platform KAP. “Ford and Koc Holding will remain committed to support electric vehicle production at Ford Otosan’s Kocaeli Plant and will evaluate potential battery cell investments in the future in line with the dynamics of the electric vehicle market.”
In a separate statement, LGES says it’s working with Ford on a plan to support battery cell production for the Turkish EV production. The long-term supplier to Ford, however, did not provide details on potential supply volumes and where the batteries would be shipped from.
Ford Otosan is due to start producing the E-Transit vans next year, as well as electric vans for Volkswagen under a partnership the two companies have in place. LGES already supplies Poland-made batteries for the Ford Mustang Mach-E and E-transit.
The Turkish gigafactory investment was estimated at TRY 32 billion ($1.11 billion). The project’s environmental impact assessment was approved by Turkish authorities in September 2022.
Source:Kallanish
