Next Gen Ford F-150 EV Will Be Built At Wholly Owned Plant

We’ve known for some time now that the next-generation Ford F-150 EV – which may not continue to use the Lightning name – will be built at the under-construction BlueOval City complex in Tennessee. There, the automaker is currently planning on operating just one production plant for now – rather than two as originally expected – though it’s also teaming up with South Korean battery maker SK On to operate a joint-venture EV battery plant nearby as well. However, the next-generation Ford F-150 EV will be built at a wholly owned FoMoCo plant – not a joint-venture facility, Ford Authority has learned.

That facility will officially be called the Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center, as the automaker just revealed for the very first time. After hearing that news, Ford Authority reached out to Ford for clarification on this particular topic, and the automaker indeed confirmed that the Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center is in fact 100 percent owned and operated by The Blue Oval, and is not part of the joint venture. FoMoCo also confirmed that this facility will be used to build all-electric trucks in the future. It is worth noting that the next-gen Ford F-150 EV may also be built at the Dearborn Truck plant and Rogue Electric Vehicle Center, as Ford Authority previously reported.

As part of its recent decision to push back some planned EV investments and focus on smaller, cheaper models – as well as offer a hybrid powertrain across the entire Ford Blue lineup by 2030 – production of the next-generation Ford F-150 EV and Ford Explorer EV for North America were recently delayed as well. This means that the new EV pickup won’t enter production at the Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center in 2025 as originally planned, but now, that process is slated to begin in 2026, while the Explorer EV will enter production in 2027 rather than 2025.

Nicknamed “Project T3” (for “Trust the Truck”), this next-generation EV pickup will reportedly benefit from the automaker’s under-development low-cost EV platform. Ford CEO Jim Farley previously described its styling as something like the Millennium Falcon from the Star Wars franchise “with a porch attached,” and also added that it will be a superior offering compared to the Tesla Cybertruck.

We’ll have more on the second-generation Ford F-150 EV soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Ford F-Series news, Ford F-150 news, F-150 Lightning news, and comprehensive Ford news coverage.