From the Associated Press — Ford wants to control the key technology for electric vehicles, so it plans to build a battery development center near Detroit by the end of next year. The company said the 200,000-square-foot facility will have equipment to design, test and even do small-scale manufacturing of battery cells and packs. The $185 million lab also will develop electronic controls and other
items as Ford moves more of the process in-house. Eventually the company wants to do large-scale manufacturing of its own batteries globally, a task now performed by supply companies. The company wouldn’t say the exact site of the center, nor would it say where it might build battery factories.
