Ford to build $3.5 billion electric vehicle battery plant in Michigan

Ford Motor Co. plans to build a $3.5 billion electric vehicle battery plant about 100 miles west of Detroit that would employ about 2,500 people.

The plant was revealed Monday at a meeting of the Michigan Strategic Fund, which approved a large tax incentive package for the project near the city of Marshall. It will be built on a site that’s being readied for industrial development near the junction of Interstates 94 and 69.

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Gabby Bruno, director of economic development for Ford, said there was “no lack of competition for this project.” She said Michigan “competed against numerous states and countries” to secure the investment.

Ford has scheduled press conferences later Monday to make electric vehicle announcements.

About $210 million for the Ford plant came from Michigan’s Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve Fund, known as SOAR, set up to lure industry and jobs to the state. But the total size of the incentive package wasn’t clear.

The SOAR Fund has received nearly $1.8 billion from the state’s general fund since it was first created in December of 2021.

A tax-relief bill passed in the Michigan House last week could send up to $1.5 billion over three fiscal years to the SOAR Fund in addition to a $800 million one-time deposit that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer outlined in her budget proposal last week.The tax-relief bill, which still needs to be approved by a state Senate, where Democrats hold a two-seat majority, has been heavily criticized by Republicans for giving too little to taxpayers and too much to large corporations.

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