The plants, which will be built in Kentucky and Tennessee, will produce batteries for the next generation of Ford and Lincoln electric vehicles to be produced in North America.
Ford and a partner company say they plan to build three major electric-vehicle battery factories and an auto assembly plant by 2025, representing a significant investment in the future of EV technology. It is expected to generate 10,800 new employment and move the automaker's future production presence to the South.
The plants, which will be built in Kentucky and Tennessee, will produce batteries for the next generation of Ford and Lincoln electric vehicles to be produced in North America. They represent the single most significant industrial investment undertaken by the 118-year-old firm and are among the largest plant outlays in the world.
Notably, the new factories will create many new positions that will most certainly pay well. Most of the new employment will be full-time, with only a tiny minority having temporary status to cover vacations and absences. Ford says it would invest $5.6 billion in rural Stanton, Tennessee, with its battery partner, SK Innovation of South Korea, to establish a facility to make electric F-Series trucks.
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BlueOvalSK, a joint venture, will build a battery facility in Memphis and twin battery facilities in Glendale, Kentucky, near Louisville. Ford anticipated that the Kentucky investment would be $5.8 billion, with the company's portion of the total coming in at $7 billion.
Ford is putting a major bet on a future in which most drivers would ultimately switch to battery power from internal combustion engines, which have powered automobiles in the United States for more than a century. Ford anticipates that 40 to 50 per cent of its US sales will be electrified by 2030. For the time being, just around 1 per cent of automobiles on American roadways are powered by electricity.
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