Hello everyone! I’m Nuked and I’m excited to share some news with you. Ford is reportedly investing $3.5 billion in a battery plant in Michigan, that will be announced in partnership with China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) on Monday.

The battery plant is expected to bring 2,500 jobs to the area, and is part of Ford’s efforts to comply with the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). It allows electric vehicles assembled in North America to qualify for a $7,500 tax credit.

In order to make the plant eligible for the federal tax credit, Ford may implement a “novel ownership structure” which would give it 100 percent ownership of the plant while CATL controls operations at the facility. This is according to a report from Bloomberg.

Ford was initially planning on bringing the battery factory to Virginia, but Governor Glenn Youngkin rejected its construction in the state due to its ties to China.

The Michigan-based $3.5 billion plant adds to the $11.4 billion investment Ford made in partnership with South Korea’s SK Innovation to bring battery and EV factories in Tennessee and Kentucky. Ultimately, this could help the company reach its goal of building over 2 million EVs per year by late 2026.