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Ford announces $3.5B EV battery production plant with CATL’s help

Credit: Ford Motor Company

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Ford has announced that it will build a $3.5 billion battery production facility in the Marshall Township of Western Michigan. The plant comes with an agreement Ford recently confirmed with Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL).

Ford has the ambitious goal of producing 2 million EVs annually by 2026, and a key element to that plan is a rapid expansion of production. Ford started with “Blue Oval City,” a massive new production and office facility in Tennesee, and has since then begun construction of its first battery production location and enormous expansions of existing factories throughout the U.S.

Now, the company has doubled down, constructing yet another battery production facility, this one in Marshall, Michigan, with the help of CATL.

The $3.5 billion 2,000 acre megasite, while not Ford’s first battery plant, is the company’s first try with LFP, or lithium iron phosphate, batteries. Ford CEO Jim Farley states that these batteries are designed to be cheaper, charge faster, and last longer. LFP battery packs have been used by other automakers, including Tesla, to combat supply shortages.

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Ford’s LFP battery design comes from a collaboration with CATL, who will also be helping the company start the Marshall plant as it comes online in 2026.

Thus far, no Ford EVs currently employ LFP batteries, instead opting for more energy-dense and expensive chemistries. However, that will be changing. This spring, the Ford Mustang Mach-E will be the first Ford EV with the option of LFP battery cells, with more vehicles receiving the same treatment shortly. Ford did not announce how this change will affect the pricing of the Mach-E.

To help fund the plant, the Michigan Strategic Fund announced that it would contribute $210 million on top of funds made available through the Inflation Reduction Act. With the massive stockpile of IRA funds, the Feds are poised to pay anywhere in the range of between $20 and $50 per kWh produced domestically to help with initial production costs. However, that number is highly dependent on material sourcing, operation size, and other factors.

While the project is undoubtedly a great aid to Ford in its mission to electrify its product lineup, it is even better news for Mashall, Michigan, which over the past decade has lost just over 2,000 jobs, according to the “Choose Marshall” organization. With Ford’s infusion of 2,500 new jobs, the entire region is poised to rebound and will likely result in higher standards of living across the board.

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Along with nine other new production facilities, Ford is headed toward hitting its 2 million EV run rate and is poised to maintain its position as the second-largest EV brand in the United States. Though, with an equally massive investment being made by General Motors, Stellantis, and others, there is no lack of competition for EV supremacy in the country. Hopefully, more automakers will choose, as Ford has, to invest in the U.S. and work towards growing the number of EVs available for everyone who lives here.

What do you think of the article? Do you have any comments, questions, or concerns? Shoot me an email at william@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @WilliamWritin. If you have news tips, email us at tips@teslarati.com!

Will is an auto enthusiast, a gear head, and an EV enthusiast above all. From racing, to industry data, to the most advanced EV tech on earth, he now covers it at Teslarati.

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Tesla to improve one of its best features, coding shows

According to the update, Tesla will work on improving the headlights when coming into contact with highly reflective objects, including road signs, traffic signs, and street lights. Additionally, pixel-level dimming will happen in two stages, whereas it currently performs with just one, meaning on or off.

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Credit: @jojje167 on X

Tesla is looking to upgrade its Matrix Headlights, a unique and high-tech feature that is available on several of its vehicles. The headlights aim to maximize visibility for Tesla drivers while being considerate of oncoming traffic.

The Matrix Headlights Tesla offers utilize dimming of individual light pixels to ensure that visibility stays high for those behind the wheel, while also being considerate of other cars by decreasing the brightness in areas where other cars are traveling.

Here’s what they look like in action:

As you can see, the Matrix headlight system intentionally dims the area where oncoming cars would be impacted by high beams. This keeps visibility at a maximum for everyone on the road, including those who could be hit with bright lights in their eyes.

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There are still a handful of complaints from owners, however, but Tesla appears to be looking to resolve these with the coming updates in a Software Version that is currently labeled 2026.2.xxx. The coding was spotted by X user BERKANT:

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According to the update, Tesla will work on improving the headlights when coming into contact with highly reflective objects, including road signs, traffic signs, and street lights. Additionally, pixel-level dimming will happen in two stages, whereas it currently performs with just one, meaning on or off.

Finally, the new system will prevent the high beams from glaring back at the driver. The system is made to dim when it recognizes oncoming cars, but not necessarily objects that could produce glaring issues back at the driver.

Tesla’s revolutionary Matrix headlights are coming to the U.S.

This upgrade is software-focused, so there will not need to be any physical changes or upgrades made to Tesla vehicles that utilize the Matrix headlights currently.

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xAI’s Grok approved for Pentagon classified systems: report

Under the agreement, Grok can be deployed in systems handling classified intelligence analysis, weapons development, and battlefield operations. 

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Credit: xAI

Elon Musk’s xAI has signed an agreement with the United States Department of Defense (DoD) to allow Grok to be used in classified military systems.

Previously, Anthropic’s Claude had been the only AI system approved for the most sensitive military work, but a dispute over usage safeguards has reportedly prompted the Pentagon to broaden its options, as noted in a report from Axios.

Under the agreement, Grok can be deployed in systems handling classified intelligence analysis, weapons development, and battlefield operations. 

The publication reported that xAI agreed to the Pentagon’s requirement that its technology be usable for “all lawful purposes,” a standard Anthropic has reportedly resisted due to alleged ethical restrictions tied to mass surveillance and autonomous weapons use.

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is scheduled to meet with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei in what sources expect to be a tense meeting, with the publication hinting that the Pentagon could designate Anthropic a “supply chain risk” if the company does not lift its safeguards. 

Axios stated that replacing Claude fully might be technically challenging even if xAI or other alternative AI systems take its place. That being said, other AI systems are already in use by the DoD. 

Grok already operates in the Pentagon’s unclassified systems alongside Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Google is reportedly close to an agreement that will result in Gemini being used for classified use, while OpenAI’s progress toward classified deployment is described as slower but still feasible. 

The publication noted that the Pentagon continues talks with several AI companies as it prepares for potential changes in classified AI sourcing.

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Elon Musk denies Starlink’s price cuts are due to Amazon Kuiper

“This has nothing to do with Kuiper, we’re just trying to make Starlink more affordable to a broader audience,” Musk wrote in a post on X.

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Credit: Starlink

Elon Musk has pushed back on claims that Starlink’s recent price reductions are tied to Amazon’s Kuiper project.

In a post on X, Musk responded directly to a report suggesting that Starlink was cutting prices and offering free hardware to partners ahead of a planned IPO and increased competition from Kuiper.

“This has nothing to do with Kuiper, we’re just trying to make Starlink more affordable to a broader audience,” Musk wrote in a post on X. “The lower the cost, the more Starlink can be used by people who don’t have much money, especially in the developing world.”

The speculation originated from a post summarizing a report from The Information, which ran with the headline “SpaceX’s Starlink Makes Land Grab as Amazon Threat Looms.” The report stated that SpaceX is aggressively cutting prices and giving free hardware to distribution partners, which was interpreted as a reaction to Amazon’s Kuiper’s upcoming rollout and possible IPO.

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In a way, Musk’s comments could be quite accurate considering Starlink’s current scale. The constellation currently has more than 9,700 satellites in operation today, making it by far the largest satellite broadband network in operation. It has also managed to grow its user base to 10 million active customers across more than 150 countries worldwide. 

Amazon’s Kuiper, by comparison, has launched approximately 211 satellites to date, as per data from SatelliteMap.Space, some of which were launched by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. Starlink surpassed that number in early January 2020, during the early buildout of its first-generation network.

Lower pricing also aligns with Starlink’s broader expansion strategy. SpaceX continues to deploy satellites at a rapid pace using Falcon 9, and future launches aboard Starship are expected to significantly accelerate the constellation’s growth. A larger network improves capacity and global coverage, which can support a broader customer base.

In that context, price reductions can be viewed as a way to match expanding supply with growing demand. Musk’s companies have historically used aggressive pricing strategies to drive adoption at scale, particularly when vertical integration allows costs to decline over time.

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