Biden Is Lending Billions To Ford To Help America Win The Ev Race With China

Ford CEO Jim Farley with an F-150 Lightning truck.Bill Pugliano/Getty Images The US is lending Ford $9.2 billion to build battery plants in Tennessee and Kentucky. The sum from the Loan Programs Office is the biggest to an automaker since the 2009 bailouts. It's also three times the loan extended to General Motors for battery plants last year. The US government is lending $9.2 billion to Ford for three battery plants in a sign of the Biden administration's desire for America to become a leading EV player.The Department of Energy's Loan Program Office announced Thursday it was financing the BlueOval SK joint venture involving Ford and South Korean battery manufacturer SK On for one factory in Tennessee and two in Kentucky.The loan for the factories, which are already under construction, is the biggest handed out to a carmaker since the $80 billion bailout loans of 2009, and is the latest step in the US's drive for energy security amid rising tension with China.