In recent years, Ford has invested heavily in electrification, all with the expectation that consumers would gravitate toward those types of vehicles quickly. However, in more recent times, demand for EVs has slowed to the point where Ford – and its peers – are being forced to roll back some of those expansion plans and investments. Trouble is, Ford currently has more than one EV and/or EV battery plant under construction and won’t be needing all of the capacity each offers, though it seems as if The Blue Oval has a bit of a backup plan.
In a recent interview with Bloomberg Television, Farley said “we’re looking to repurpose our unused battery plant assets and more to come on that.” The exec didn’t provide any additional details about what it plans to do with the unused space at those plants, but we have seen a few hints over the past few weeks that could very well preview changes Ford has in store for the near future.
The joint-venture BlueOval SK Battery Park site in Kentucky was originally slated to have two operational plants on its sprawling campus, which would employ 5,000 people. However, amid slower than expected demand for EVs, Ford and SK On opted to only utilize one of those plants and hire 2,500 workers in the interim. As such, the joint-venture recently reached a deal with Nissan that will result in that Japanese automaker using part of the facility to build batteries for its own EVs, too.
It’s also possible that Ford may utilize some of its future EV battery production to build units for energy storage purposes, since demand for such things is increasing as of late given the large amount of power needed for artificial intelligence software. Farley recently admitted that The Blue Oval may get into the energy storage business, in fact, just around the same time that Ford rival General Motors signed a deal with Redwood Materials to fast-track the development of a large-scale energy storage system, which will utilize the automaker’s existing battery technology.
And setting a series record while they were at it.
Joining the F-150 Lightning, Escape, and Nautilus.
A clean way to add some additional lumens.
It's limited to just 25 total units of production.
Overall, automotive recalls are on the rise, too.
With an EREV powertrain, at least, at some point.
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A few years ago when Ford was getting blasted by Wall Street for not being Tesla, they hit the $11 billion panic button to announce EVs for all and multiple battery plants. They also abandoned ICE vehicle development and fired a lot of "obsolete" engineers in the process.
Meanwhile, Toyota looked at the same landscape and decided gas and diesel vehicles weren't going anywhere while they cautiously developed an EV strategy. Farley is a Toyota veteran, but he didn't absorb their decision-making process.
Perhaps that's why he's no longer at Toyota.
How can Farley be paid his outrageous compensation for the wrong investment decisions he fostered and convinced the board of directors to approve! The board of directors should forfeit their compensation as well.
In fairness to JF, many Exec’s made the same decisions based on then current Government decisions. Why they believed idiot Joe’s vision would have staying power I don’t know but GM and Stellantis also bought in as did global giants like VW Group, Mercedes and BMW. They’re all scrambling to unwind their decisions as fast as possible. Hopefully Ford uses these plants to build more vehicles like the Escape/Bronco Sport/Maverick in the USA and perhaps lease some space to vendors to build parts and components in the US as well.
It's called the largest back pedal in automotive history.
Sad people. In the end it will be electric cars tools and equipment that will win out. It's only time that will end petroleum based consumption. But you keep dreaming.
Nothing like helping your competition, in this case Nissan.
I just can't believe that is the only solution that works to fill those plants.
I certainly hope Ford can survive Farley and Bill Jr.
...and the rest of the do-nothing Board of Directors.
I hope they don't
Love the dividend ! Looking forward to getting my '26 Maverick ! Long F.
Thanks to Rump who has gutted the EV industry but hey 49.9% of the morons voted for the pedophile!
Ev's were dying before Trump started his term.
Bottom line is there are too many negatives to owning them
What are the negatives?
Is it almost zero maintenance?
Or maybe they out perform every street legal car under a million dollars in acceleration? Maybe the instant torque, does that scare you?
Do tell.
How about the non zero maintenance, you need a whole new powertrain at 50k miles. That's the cost of a new car, can't be recycled, and burns up more water than the entire manufacturing process on an ice vehicle.
The instant acceleration of an EV is dangerous, they are very heavy which damages roads faster, they burn through tires, dumping more plastic and rubber into the environment.
Need I go on...
EVs need a new powertrain at 50k miles? What's your source, "trust me bro?"
This is complete misinformation. The battery has a minimum 8yr/100,000 mile warranty and it must be at least 80% state of charge at the end of that warranty. That's a better warranty than every ICE vehicle sold on this planet except maybe the older Toyota Landcruiser's 25yr warranty.
You are 100% right ! You can't fix ignorant & stubborn idiots (Repubnicants) Too bad us intelligent people have to suffer the orange babies mistakes !
My recommendation would be to relocate the high demand Maverick production from Mexico to the new plant.
They already have current plants that need product (e.g. Flat Rock, Blue Oval City). I think any Mexican/Chinese production will be steered to those plants first.
Probably cheaper to contribute to Trumps crypto fund?
This is what happens when the governments of the world interfere with business. For just like the other car companies couldn't say no to boatloads of money to switch from ice and force electric on us.
There is no forcing a superior product. You can keep using an electric typewriter if you don't want to invest in a word processor computer.
Incentivizing new and cleaner technology is the opposite of forcing it on you. Classic car laws exist for a reason.
Banning the registration of classic kei trucks is an example of forcing. So is restricting the import of newer foreign cars.
Giving some money back on your taxes to invest in new and growing American product is not the evil you desperately want it to be.
If and/or when Chinese EV arrive stateside, there may be an interesting development. Upfront costs to obtain a new EV is a current hurdle for potential owners. New Chinese imports might shatter this hurdle and press the need for these plants.
When the model A was introduced, horse owners scoffed. Then the model T hit and horse owners began converting. Government supported that development. GM is still here thanks to government "interference" loans. The EV industry is not going anywhere but indeed is expanding worldwide. What folks don't realize is that by dropping subsidies (which corporations love) the current occupant has ceeded superiority to China once again. (the R side of the aisle seems to do this often). The chips act was an attempt to right the ship and bring high paying jobs back home - gutted by T Rump. The American rescue plan was to help build out energy infrastructure in the US. Giving us true energy independence - a strategic advantage in the world marketplace and in defense industry - gutted by T Rump for his billionaire tax cut.
Might want to do a little research before posting…..the model T came before the model A.