Ford plans to build a $3.5 billion battery plant in Marshall, Michigan, east of Kalamazoo, and state legislators learned more about Wednesday. Ford’s chief government operations officer Chris Smith was asked about why they didn’t used an existing abandoned site.
“The challenge of building a battery plant is fundamentally different than the types of plants that we built historically in terms of what you need for sight preparation, acreage, access,” Smith said. “So, when we look at other potential opportunities, which in many cases are currently running at capacity, there was not the opportunity to take an existing site.”
Production is set to begin in 2026 with 2,600 workers. The land where the factory will be built is currently a farm and has access to I-94, I-69, and railroad lines. The jobs will pay between $20 and $50 an hour and production will start in 2026.
