LONDON – Ford introduced Monday that it intends to spend $315 million (£230 million) remodeling a manufacturing unit in northwest England right into a website that may make parts for electrical autos.

The automobile transmission facility in Halewood, Merseyside, might be changed into an electrical energy unit manufacturing plant, the U.S. motor large stated.

Ford careworn that the funding is topic to and contains U.Ok. authorities help, which reportedly quantities to £30 million.

“This is a vital step, marking Ford’s first in-house funding in all-electric automobile part manufacturing in Europe,” stated Stuart Rowley, president of Ford Europe, in an announcement.

“It strengthens additional our skill to ship 100% of Ford passenger autos in Europe being all-electric and two-thirds of our industrial automobile gross sales being all-electric or plug-in hybrid by 2030,” he added.

Ford stated it is going to begin making the electrical energy models at Halewood in mid-2024, including that it plans to provide round 250,000 of them on the website annually.

Final yr, the U.Ok. authorities created a £500 million pot to attempt to persuade electrical automobile producers and battery makers to develop their operations within the U.Ok. It needs gross sales of recent petrol and diesel vehicles to finish within the U.Ok. by 2030.

Elsewhere this yr, Nissan and Stellantis, the world’s fourth greatest automotive maker, have additionally introduced electrical automobile investments at their U.Ok. crops. BMW already makes the electrical Mini at a website in Oxford.

U.Ok. Enterprise Minister Kwasi Kwarteng stated in an announcement: “Ford’s resolution to construct its first electrical automobile parts in Europe at its Halewood website is additional proof that the UK stays top-of-the-line places on this planet for high-quality automotive manufacturing.”

Ford stated 500 jobs on the manufacturing unit might be safeguarded because of the funding.