Ford BlueOval City Expected To Create 6,000 Jobs

The future Ford BlueOval City site has been under construction in Tennessee for roughly three years now, and even though the automaker’s plan for that site has changed amid weaker-than-expected demand for electric vehicles, it remains on track for completion, regardless. Just last month, we learned that BlueOval City is set to begin prototype and EV battery production in 2027, and now, we know how many people that site will employ when that process starts, too.

According to Commercial Appeal, BlueOval City is expected to create around 6,000 direct jobs via both the Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center and BlueOval SK battery plant that are on site there, even as both have experienced delays in terms of production start dates as of late. That figure breaks down to 3,300 people for the Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center and 2,500 at the BlueOval SK battery plant, and officials stated that the project is also anticipated to create thousands more indirect jobs, to boot.

Altogether, BlueOval City is expected to lead to the creation of around 30,000 total jobs, both direct and indirect. Thus far, 71 salaried workers have joined the team, but no hourly wage workers have been hired as of yet. Ford plans to reveal those plans and begin hiring hourly workers as it gets closer to the start of production in roughly two years or less. As Ford Authority previously reported, the 3,600-acre site already represents the biggest investment Ford has made in its century-plus of existence at $5.6 billion.

While prototype production is slated to begin in 2027, both the next-generation Ford F-150 Lightning (or whatever it might wind up being called) was recently pushed back from 2027 to 2028, its third such delay. Additionally, production of the next-generation E-Transit was also delayed to 2028 after it was previously slated to enter production in 2026, and was reportedly “on track” to meet that date.