Ford has invested $2.1 million to open a new joint Li-ion battery fabrication and characterization laboratory at the Univeristy of Michigan. This prototyping laboratory enables multiple scale cell manufacturing and high process quality that is feasible to scale up, and evaluation of battery chemistries and electrode design while reducing the risk and cost. State-of-the-art manufacturing methods will be used to build surrogate cells that replicate the performance of full-scale production batteries, allowing for faster implementation in future production electrified vehicles. More details will be presented at the meeting.