Ford picks Halewood as its first electric car plant in Europe

Five hundred automotive jobs will be saved in Europe after Ford, the American motor group, selected Halewood to be a key part of its drive to become a wholly electric carmaker in Merseyside by 2030.

From 2024 Ford will spend 230 million making Halewood, which makes gearboxes, to start producing what will be 250,000 electric power units a year.

It was made after the government made an estimated 30 million available via their Automotive Transformation Fund. Similar levels of taxpayer support are believed to have been given this year for the conversion of the Vauxhall Astra factory from Ellesmere Port to an electric van assembly plant.

The gearbox in an internal combustion engine used at Ford s Halewood plant becomes redundant in a battery electric car. Instead, Halewood will make electric power units – also known as e-drives in the industry — which distribute power from the battery to the wheels. When it transitions to e-drive production in 2024 Halewood will become Ford's first electric vehicle component plant in Europe.

It used to be a Ford carmaking plant, but went the same way as Ford car production plants in Germany and Turkey as production and assembly were moved to Britain and Turkey. After recent closure of an engine plant in Basildon, Essex, Ford retains only Halewood, a van engine plant in Dagenham in South Wales and a technology and electric vehicle research centre near south Wales.

Kwasi Kwarteng, business secretary who signed off on supporting Ford s plans, said: Ford's decision is further proof that the UK remains one of the best locations for high-quality automotive manufacturing in the world.

In this global race for electric vehicle manufacturing, our priority is to ensure the UK reaps the benefits.