Battery supplier(s) for Mach-E and Future Ford EVs

Dmcerm

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So, I think I heard/read just some short snippets in passing regarding where Ford is getting their batteries or from where they are being sourced but can someone give me/us a few of those resources?
Was it LG or something? I can't remember what I heard... we all need to keep an eye on where Ford and VW, Jaguar etc. are getting their batteries... for instance, Tesla was said to be in talks with a Brazilian lithium mining company called Sigma Lithium Resources Corp (SGMLF)... and they are selling for $1.35 a share... this is not an investment post, I'm just trying to say, the big limit to all these EVs coming on line will be lithium... and aside from investing in our car companies, the EV cars can't go vroom with out lithium... LOL.

And again, for the last decade Tesla has had a long head start getting, keeping and growing their contracts for materials... we are all now playing catch up... that said, just like Ford did years prior to the rollout of the new all-aluminum F-150 back in 2015, they were contracting with suppliers long before production began and in turn had the market cornered for many years... and we know they wouldn't have rolled out the M-E if they didn't KNOW the supply chain could handle their production... 11 billion bucks is a lot to invest if you can't get the lithium... and I know Ford wouldn't have done that.

Great Forum everyone! I told my wife, besides my quest now for the Mach-E, this forum is my new obsession!
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Yes LG Chem is currently the battery supplier for the Mach-e.
 
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Hey, I reverse engineered some details about the batter pack. I also assumed that the cells and the pack are made by LG.
Anyway, this seems to be a fact.

However, I also tried to figure out the different pack designs of the Standard Range and the Extended Range battery system.

You can find the details here:

Ford Mustang Mach-E: HV Battery reverse engineered.
 
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Dmcerm

Dmcerm

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Hey, I reverse engineered some details about the batter pack. I also assumed that the cells and the pack are made by LG.
Anyway, this seems to be a fact.

However, I also tried to figure out the different pack designs of the Standard Range and the Extended Range battery system.

You can find the details here:

Ford Mustang Mach-E: HV Battery reverse engineered.
Very cool! I don't always understand everything but it was a good write up explaining the M-E's batteries.
Thanks for sharing!
 


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Son of a Bolt!

I find it interesting that they did 96s3p for the 75.7 kWh pack, but went with 94s4p for the 98.8 kWh pack...slightly lower voltage. I guess it came down to space. They couldn't fit eight more cells.
 
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Dmcerm

Dmcerm

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Hmm, I don't think that the SR battery pack has 3p connection. This is what I also asked myself, if this could be an option.
But: It's quite hard to make a 3p configuration with a cell module containing 32 cells (the long cell modules). So the 3p would be made over two cell modules. This is very, very hard to achieve, you'll need two busbars from one cell module to the next.
That's why I believe that the SR pack still has 4p configuration, but finally with reduced voltage of the whole pack.
 

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Hmm, I don't think that the SR battery pack has 3p connection. This is what I also asked myself, if this could be an option.
But: It's quite hard to make a 3p configuration with a cell module containing 32 cells (the long cell modules). So the 3p would be made over two cell modules. This is very, very hard to achieve, you'll need two busbars from one cell module to the next.
That's why I believe that the SR pack still has 4p configuration, but finally with reduced voltage of the whole pack.
The standard range pack is not 100V lower than the extended range pack. This would result in an extreme difference in performance of the vehicle and it just isn't so. The standard range pack is 96s3p.

As it turns out, for the Mach-e the standard range pack outperforms the extended range pack for acceleration. That wouldn't occur at 100V lower voltage.

This is contrary to Tesla as acceleration time decreases with increased range. For the Model 3, if you want 300 mile range you get the AWD LR as there is no RWD option for 300 mile range. The 300 mile range AWD also has sub five second acceleration 0-60, rather than 6.5 s 0-60 of the extended range Mach-e. You can't get the same combination of range and acceleration with the Mach-e, unfortunately.
 
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Ok, but probably then for the SR battery pack I could only imagine, that 3 cell modules are connected in parallel, with each cell module for the SR battery in 1p32s config.
That could work with a 9th cell module of exactly the same size like the others, but then the center wiring harness needs also complere different design and package.
 

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Ok, but probably then for the SR battery pack I could only imagine, that 3 cell modules are connected in parallel, with each cell module for the SR battery in 1p32s config.
That could work with a 9th cell module of exactly the same size like the others, but then the center wiring harness needs also complere different design and package.
Freund, I'm actually more into circuitry and specifically micro electronics at that. While power control is really a big deal now do to EVs. H bridges with GaN or SiC instead of MOS do to really high voltage for the AC inverters. Also, there are a lot of new ICs in the battery pack for battery management. They don't need to be so high voltage though.

But yes, likely each pack needs a different harness and is assembled on a different line. The cells are the same but the modules must be different.
 
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