Great Scott! Ford Announces New Factories Capable of 129 Gigawatts of Capacity
By Edward A. Sanchez – Sept. 30, 2021
While some cynics claimed Ford’s electrification efforts were mostly symbolic with the Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning, it appears the company is preparing for a future in which BEVs play a much larger role in the company’s lineup. This week, Ford announced an $11.4 billion investment in two manufacturing campuses, one in Kentucky and the other in Tennessee, that will ultimately produce 129 gigawatts of battery capacity per year. Eat your heart out, Doc Brown.
Ford’s chosen battery partner for this venture is South Korea’s SK Innovation, which if you remember, was sued by LG earlier this year for alleged intellectual property theft. The two companies ultimately settled for $1.8 billion.
The Kentucky campus will be located in Glendale, Ky., approximately 52 miles south of Louisville, where Ford incidentally has two assembly plants. The Kentucky location will ultimately employ up to 5,000 people and will span 1,500 acres.
Ford CEO Jim Farley announced an investment in two new factories that are capable of producing 129 gigawatts of battery capacity.
The larger of the two is the “Blue Oval City” plant in Stanton, Tenn., northeast of Memphis. This facility will cover 3,600 acres and will include vehicle assembly and battery production, as well as a supplier park, indicating that actual vehicle production may take place on-site. As such, Ford says Blue Oval City will “reach new customers with an expanded electric truck lineup.”
Although the Stanton plant will play a supporting role to the F-Series, as noted by Ford in the release, saying, the plant “will be a hive of technical innovation to build next-generation electric F-Series trucks,” it did not specify that full assembly of F-Series trucks would necessarily take place on-site.
Keep in mind that Ford also has an F-150 assembly plant relatively close by in Kansas City, Mo.
Could that mean electrified versions of the Ranger or Maverick? Due to its proximity to the Louisville area, some believe this indicates the imminence of an all-electric Super Duty. I believe the Super Duty will probably be the last of Ford’s trucks to get the full-BEV treatment for a variety of reasons, some of which I’ve unpacked in previous blog posts.
Ultimately, Blue Oval City will be capable of employing 6,000 workers.
Of course, new plants of this size aren’t built overnight, and both facilities are not scheduled to go online until 2025.
Taking the additional step of “closing the circle” of sustainability, Ford also announced a partnership with Redwood Materials, the battery recycling company founded by Tesla co-founder J.B. Straubel, to develop a local supply chain network plus scrap and recycling processes to harvest materials responsibly, and re-use valuable minerals in the production of new batteries. Additionally, Ford announced a $525 million initiative for technician training for the service and repair of EVs, with $90 million of that going specifically to Texas, Ford’s largest single market for truck sales.
With reservations of the F-150 Lighting already numbering well into the six figures, Ford is anticipating its electrified workhorse will be a big part of its truck portfolio, and its substantial investment in these two battery production facilities show that the company has moved past the “hopes and aspirations” stage when it comes to EVs, and is playing to win in the large-volume EV space.
(Images courtesy Ford)
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