Ford Ion Park: The blue-oval's battery skunkworks

This facility is designed to help the automaker more vertically integrate its battery development and manufacturing capabilities.

Craig Cole

Craig brought 15 years of automotive journalism experience to the Cars team. A lifelong resident of Michigan, he's as happy with a wrench or welding gun in hand as he is in front of the camera or behind a keyboard. When not hosting videos or cranking out features and reviews, he's probably out in the garage working on one of his project cars. He's fully restored a 1936 Ford V8 sedan and then turned to resurrecting another flathead-powered relic, a '51 Ford Crestliner. Craig has been a proud member of the Automotive Press Association (APA) and the Midwest Automotive Media Association (MAMA).

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Craig Cole

April 27, 2021 9:13 a.m. PT

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Ford believes the future is electric.

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Ford Ion Park is where the Dearborn-based automaker will test, develop and build future batteries.

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This facility will be home to a cross-functional team of around 150 people, experts in diverse fields like battery development, manufacturing, quality assurance and more

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Ford Ion Park is intended to help the automaker evaluate novel battery-manufacturing techniques, create new cell designs and research innovative materials.