Ford and a partner company say they plan to build three major electric-vehicle battery factories and an auto assembly plant by 2025 - a dramatic investment in the future of EV technology that will create an estimated 10,800 jobs and shift the automaker's future manufacturing footprint toward the South.
The factories, to be built on sites in Kentucky and Tennessee, will make batteries for the next generation of Ford and Lincoln electric vehicles that will be produced in North America. Combined, they mark the single largest manufacturing investment the 118-year-old company has ever made and are among the largest factory outlays in the world.
Notably, the new factories will provide a vast new supply of jobs that will likely pay solid wages. Most of the new jobs will be full time, with a relatively small percentage having temporary status to fill in for vacations and absent workers.
Ford has announced it will bring electric vehicles with two new technologically advanced campuses in Tennessee and Kentucky. Pictured, an all-electric F-150 Lightning on display at the Motor Bella auto show in Pontiac, Michigan
A 1,551-acre field, seen on Monday will become the site of of a joint venture with Ford Motor Company and SK Innovation to create the $5.8 billion BlueOvalSK Battery Park in Glendale, Kentucky
A manufacturing complex U.S. automaker Ford Motor Co and its South Korean battery partner SK Innovation plan to build in Tennessee, opening in 2025, is seen in an artist's rendition
Together with its battery partner, SK Innovation of South Korea, Ford says it will spend $5.6 billion in rural Stanton, Tennessee, where it will build a factory to produce electric F-Series pickups.
A joint venture called BlueOvalSK will construct a battery factory on the same site near Memphis, plus twin battery plants in Glendale, Kentucky, near Louisville. Ford estimated the Kentucky investment at $5.8 billion and that the company's share of the total would be $7 billion.
With the new spending, Ford is making a significant bet on a future that envisions most drivers eventually making the shift to battery power from internal combustion engines, which have powered vehicles in the United States for more than a century.
Should that transition run into disruptions or delays, the gamble could hit the company's bottom line. Ford predicts 40% to 50% of its U.S. sales will be electric by 2030. For now, only about 1% of vehicles on America's roads are powered by electricity.
The Ford Motor company unveiled the new all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck at an event outside the Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan in May
A sign welcomes visitors to the tiny town of Glendale, Kentucky, the site of a joint venture with Ford Motor Company and SK Innovation to create the $5.8 billion BlueOvalSK Battery Park
A truck drives down a rural road near a water tower marking the location of the Memphis Regional Megasite in Stanton, Tennessee. The industrial site in Stanton will be the location for a factory to produce electric F-Series pickups and a battery factory
In an interview Monday, CEO Jim Farley said it would be up to the workers at the new plants to decide whether to be represented by the United Auto Workers union. That question could set up an epic battle with union leaders, who want employees of the future to join the union and earn top UAW production wages of around $32 per hour.
It represents a high-stakes test for the UAW, which will need jobs for thousands of members who will lose work in the transition away engines and transmissions for petroleum-powered vehicles.
Ford's move also could put the company at odds with President Joe Biden's quest to create 'good-paying union jobs' in a new, greener economy.
Farley said it's too early to talk about pay or unionization at the new factories. He stressed that Ford will maintain a geographic manufacturing balance when the company's investments in Ohio and Michigan are included. Ford and General Motors have UAW-represented plants in Kentucky and Tennessee, states where it is common for political leaders to actively campaign against unionization.
A1,551-acre field which will become the site of a new factory. The dedicated battery manufacturing complex is intended to supply Ford's North American assembly plants with locally assembled batteries
Ford said it plans to invest $11.4 billion in electric vehicle production, building four new plants that will create 11,000 new jobs by 2025
'We love our UAW partners,' Farley said. 'They've been incredible on this journey of electrification so far. But it's up to the employees
