Ford Launches $185 Million Ion Park Battery R&D Center of ExcellenceFord Launches $185 Million Ion Park Battery R&D Center of Excellence

Ford is aiming to raise the profile of its EV efforts with this focused battery center.

Dan Carney, Senior Editor

May 14, 2021

3 Min Read
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Ford's $100 million, 185,000 sq.-ft. Ford Battery Benchmarking and Test Laboratory in Allen Park, Mich. opened last year.Ford Motor Co.

Ford Motor Co. is jumping into EV battery development with both feet with the announcement of its new “Ion Park” battery center of excellence. This centralizes Ford’s cross-functional team of 150 battery experts to speed development and manufacturing of cells and batteries.

Ion Park will also work on integrating battery know-how with other aspects of the industry such as mining and recycling as sources of raw materials. The park’s $185 million, 200,000 square-foot lab is dedicated to developing, testing and building vehicle battery cells and cell arrays using state-of-the-art technology to pilot new manufacturing techniques so Ford can quickly scale breakthrough battery cell designs with novel materials.

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Dane Hardware, design and release engineer, and Mary Fredrick, battery validation engineer, measure the voltage of a battery using a digital multi-meter at Ford’s Battery Benchmarking and Test Laboratory.

Ion Park will be led by director Anand Sankaran, who is a 30-year veteran of Ford. That stint includes decades of battery and electrification expertise, such as his current role as the company’s director of Electrified Systems Engineering, as a 1999 Henry Ford Technology Award winner for his electrification work at the Ford Research Lab, and a product development leader who applied his research and technical innovations on key production vehicles.

Sankaran’s previous work includes the award-winning original Escape Hybrid, 2021 Mustang Mach-E, and the upcoming 2022 F-150 Hybrid. He holds 32 U.S. patents in automotive power electronics and hybrid vehicle technologies and is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Related:Revealing The Ford Mustang Mach-E's Recipe For Success

Ford has a head start on this effort thanks to the, $100 million, 185,000 sq.-ft. Ford Battery Benchmarking and Test Laboratory in Allen Park, Mich., which the company opened last year. That lab includes battery cell and battery pack test rooms, test benches, and benchmarking facilities to support battery cell design validation, controls calibration, pack development and pilot battery pack projects with different chemistries. It is the battery equivalent of an internal combustion engine dynamometer, where engineers can replicate the performance of full-scale production batteries under extreme weather and customer use cases.

“While some automakers have placed their bets, we are going to use this lab with the help of partners and suppliers to fine-tune our batteries to our vehicles and customer needs – exploring next-generation lithium-ion solutions, including solid-state batteries,” Sankaran said.

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Hardware tests the state of charge of the battery chamber and cell temperatures on a running battery.

While other companies have attracted attention for their electrified vehicle efforts, Ford touts its long-standing efforts in the field that may have been overlooked. This includes the accumulation of more than 2,500 U.S. patents in electrification technologies, with another 4,300 patents pending.

Related:New 2021 Ford F-150 Goes Hybrid-Electric

Additionally, Ford has sold more than 1 million hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and all-electric vehicles and integrated four generations of batteries into its vehicles since 2004. This year, the company pledges to manufacture electrified vehicles and supporting technologies at more than 15 powertrain and vehicle assembly plants globally. Ford has assembled hybrid battery packs and electric motors in Michigan since 2012, after making the state its center of excellence for vehicle electrification in 2010.

About the Author

Dan Carney

Senior Editor, Design News

Dan’s coverage of the auto industry over three decades has taken him to the racetracks, automotive engineering centers, vehicle simulators, wind tunnels, and crash-test labs of the world.

A member of the North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year jury, Dan also contributes car reviews to Popular Science magazine, serves on the International Engine of the Year jury, and has judged the collegiate Formula SAE competition.

Dan is a winner of the International Motor Press Association's Ken Purdy Award for automotive writing, as well as the National Motorsports Press Association's award for magazine writing and the Washington Automotive Press Association's Golden Quill award.

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He has held a Sports Car Club of America racing license since 1991, is an SCCA National race winner, two-time SCCA Runoffs competitor in Formula F, and an Old Dominion Region Driver of the Year award winner. Co-drove a Ford Focus 1.0-liter EcoBoost to 16 Federation Internationale de l’Automobile-accredited world speed records over distances from just under 1km to over 4,104km at the CERAM test circuit in Mortefontaine, France.

He was also a longtime contributor to the Society of Automotive Engineers' Automotive Engineering International magazine.

He specializes in analyzing technical developments, particularly in the areas of motorsports, efficiency, and safety.

He has been published in The New York Times, NBC News, Motor Trend, Popular Mechanics, The Washington Post, Hagerty, AutoTrader.com, Maxim, RaceCar Engineering, AutoWeek, Virginia Living, and others.

Dan has authored books on the Honda S2000 and Dodge Viper sports cars and contributed automotive content to the consumer finance book, Fight For Your Money.

He is a member and past president of the Washington Automotive Press Association and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers

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