Car makers have been able to rely on an established supply chain for decades, but as we move into the EV era, they're having to rediscover their pioneering roots to do much more of the grunt work themselves.
Electric reinvention has given Ford déjà vu as it tries to lock in the battery materials it needs to prepare for its gradual shift away from combustion engines.
“It goes all the way back to Ford's obsession over vertical integration with the Model T,” Doug Field, chief product developer at the company’s Model E division, told a conference run by the bank Bernstein.
