Ford EV production halt casts doubts over SK cell quality

Ford Motor Co. said on Tuesday it has stopped production and shipments of the F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck due to a possible battery issue, raising doubts over the quality of cells produced by its South Korean supplier SK On Co.

Ford suspended operations of the production line in Michigan of the first US electric light pickup after a vehicle displayed a potential problem as part of the automaker’s pre-delivery quality inspections. The carmaker plans to cease its output during the investigation.

The company has yet to provide further details of the possible battery issue and a timeframe for the resumption of production.

The F-150 Lightning is equipped with nickel-cobalt-manganese batteries produced at SK On’s plant in the US state of Georgia.

“Our US factory is normally operating, but some production lines are being inspected due to operating problems,” SK On said. “It is not related to source technology and we plan to normalize those lines soon after discussions with Ford on measures to improve.”

DEFECT RATE

The Georgia plant may have issues with its defect rate, forcing Ford to halt the electric pickup production, industry sources in Seoul said. SK On has been operating the facilities for about one year; it usually takes three to four years to keep the rate at 10% or less.

The battery issue may not be related to fire as Ford continued to sell the F-150 Lightning from existing stock without recalling all of the electric pickups sold so far, those sources added.

The F-150 Lightning is at the forefront of the electrification of Ford, a US powerhouse of pickup trucks. The model, which attracted 200,000 pre-orders, was expected to help the company to dominate the US electric pickup market as its rivals such as Tesla Inc. and General Motors Co. plan to launch models in the segment next year.

But the suspension is likely to prevent Ford from meeting the model’s output target of 150,000 units for this year, industry sources said.

The halt is also expected to postpone the much-awaited turnaround of SK On, which logged an operating loss of 991.3 billion won ($772 million) last year. The world’s fifth-largest EV battery maker is also predicted to face fundraising difficulties.

Reflecting such concerns, its parent SK Innovation Co. tumbled 7.46% in the South Korean stock market Wednesday, far underperforming a 1.53% loss in the Kospi. SK IE Technology Co., an SK Group producer of EV battery separators, dropped 7.21% and SKC Ltd., the group’s copper foil maker, lost 3.13%.

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com

ongwoo Cheon edited this article.