Ford Motor Co. plans to make what it says is the largest ever U.S. investment in electric vehicles (EVs) at one time by any automotive manufacturer. With its partner SK Innovation, the companies will invest $11.4 billion and create nearly 11,000 new jobs at two new “mega-sites” in Tennessee and Kentucky. The environmentally and technologically advanced campuses will produce the next generation of electric F-Series trucks and the batteries to power future electric Ford and Lincoln vehicles.

In Stanton, TN, the $5.6-billion Blue Oval City will create about 6000 new jobs for vehicle and battery manufacturing. The vertically integrated facility will assemble an expanded lineup of electric F-Series vehicles and includes a BlueOvalSK—a new joint venture to be formed by Ford and SK Innovation—battery plant, key suppliers, and recycling. The assembly plant is designed to be carbon neutral with zero waste sent to landfills once fully operational.

In central Kentucky, with the $5.8-billion BlueOvalSK battery park, Ford will build a battery manufacturing complex with SK Innovation, creating 5000 jobs. The twin battery plants on the site are intended to supply Ford’s North American assembly plants with locally assembled batteries for powering next-generation electric Ford and Lincoln vehicles.

“This is a transformative moment where Ford will lead America’s transition to electric vehicles and usher in a new era of clean, carbon-neutral manufacturing,” said Ford Executive Chair Bill Ford. “With this investment and a spirit of innovation, we can achieve goals once thought mutually exclusive—protect our planet, build great electric vehicles Americans will love, and contribute to our nation’s prosperity.”

Ford says its $7 billion investment is the largest ever manufacturing investment at one time by any automotive manufacturer in the U.S. It is part of the company’s more-than-$30 billion investment in EVs through 2025.

“This is our moment—our biggest investment ever—to help build a better future for America,” said Jim Farley, Ford President and CEO. “We are moving now to deliver breakthrough electric vehicles for the many rather than the few. It’s about creating good jobs that support American families, an ultra-efficient, carbon-neutral manufacturing system, and a growing business that delivers value for communities, dealers, and shareholders.”

The investments support the company’s longer-term goal to create a sustainable American manufacturing ecosystem and to accelerate its progress towards achieving carbon neutrality, backed by science-based targets in line with the Paris Climate Agreement. Overall, Ford expects 40% to 50% of its global vehicle volume to be fully electric by 2030.

Investments in the Tennessee and Kentucky battery plants are planned to be made via the BlueOvalSK JV.

“We are excited to be taking this decisive leap together, as partners, and to bring about our common vision for a cleaner planet,” said Dongseob Jee, President of Battery Business for SK Innovation. “Our joint venture, BlueOvalSK, will embody this spirit of collaboration.”

 

Blue Oval City and BlueOvalSK battery parks

Blue Oval City will be among the largest auto manufacturing campuses in U.S. history. Like its iconic Rouge complex in Michigan did a century earlier, Ford believes that it will usher in a new era for American manufacturing.

The 3600-acre campus will contain vehicle assembly, battery production, and a supplier park in a vertically integrated system that delivers cost efficiency while minimizing the manufacturing carbon footprint. The mega campus is designed to add more sustainability solutions, including the potential to use local renewable energy sources such as geothermal, solar, and wind power. The assembly plant will use always-on cloud-connected technologies to drive improvements in quality and productivity.

Blue Oval City will build next-generation electric F-Series trucks but also be a growth opportunity to reach new customers with an expanded electric truck lineup.

“Blue Oval City’s assembly plant will harness Ford’s global manufacturing expertise and cutting-edge technologies to deliver cost efficiencies and the quality that our customers expect,” said Kumar Galhotra, Ford President, Americas & International Markets Group. “This will enable Ford to lead in the race to bring dependable, affordable, and advanced electric vehicles to even more Americans.”

The assembly plant’s goal is to have a regenerative impact on the local environment through design biomimicry. From the start of production in 2025, Ford’s goal is for the assembly plant to be carbon neutral.

An on-site wastewater treatment plant with water reuse and recycling is planned to make no freshwater withdrawals for assembly processes. Zero-waste-to-landfill processes will capture materials and production scrap at an on-site materials collection center to sort and route materials for recycling or processing either at the plant or at off-site facilities.

The 1500-acre BlueOvalSK Battery Park campus in Glendale, KY, is targeted to open in 2025. Twin plants there will be capable of producing up to 43 GW·h each for a 86 GW·h total annually. The park will be centrally located to support Ford’s North American assembly plants’ footprint.

“This is the single largest investment in the history of our state and this project solidifies our leadership role in the future of the automotive manufacturing industry,” said Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear. “It will transform our economy, creating a better Kentucky, with more opportunities, for our families for generations.”

While the creation of BlueOvalSK Battery Park is crucial to Ford’s long-term vision to lead America’s transition to electric vehicles, it also represents a greater commitment to Kentucky. The automaker has two assembly plants there—Louisville Assembly Plant and Kentucky Truck Plant—employing more than 13,000 workers.

“Ford is excited to make this historic investment in the commonwealth of Kentucky, a state that has been part of the Ford story since we rolled a Model T down an assembly line in Louisville in 1913,” said Lisa Drake, Chief Operating Officer, North America, Ford Motor Co.

 

Circular battery collaboration with Redwood

The Blue Oval investments build on Ford’s recent announcement that it will work with Redwood Materials on closed-loop domestic battery recycling and a domestic EV battery supply chain. The partners’ goal is to make EVs more sustainable, drive down the cost of batteries, and ultimately help make EVs accessible and affordable for more Americans. They are collaborating to integrate battery recycling into Ford’s domestic battery strategy.

On average, Redwood’s recycling technology can recover more than 95% of battery elements like nickel, cobalt, lithium, and copper. These materials can be reused in a closed-loop, with Redwood moving to produce anode copper foil and cathode active materials for future battery production. By using locally produced, recycled battery materials, Ford can drive down costs, increase battery materials supply, and reduce its reliance on imports and mining of raw materials.

“Ford is making electric vehicles more accessible and affordable through products like the all-electric F-150 Lightning, Mustang Mach-E, and E-Transit, and much more to come,” said Farley. “Our partnership with Redwood Materials will be critical to our plan to build electric vehicles at scale in America, at the lowest possible cost, and with a zero-waste approach.”

Nevada-based Redwood Materials, founded by Tesla Co-founder JB Straubel, has a vision to create a circular supply chain for batteries and help partners across the electric-vehicle and clean-energy industries by providing pathways, processes, and technologies to recycle and remanufacture lithium-ion batteries.

“Increasing our nation’s production of batteries and their materials through domestic recycling can serve as a key enabler to improve the environmental footprint of U.S. manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries, decrease cost and, in turn, drive up domestic adoption of electric vehicles,” said Straubel. “Redwood and Ford share an understanding that to truly make electric vehicles sustainable and affordable, we need to localize the existing complex and expensive supply chain network, create pathways for end-of-life vehicles, ramp lithium-ion recycling, and increase battery production, all here in America.”

Local supply of materials is a key part of Ford’s commitment to reduce the environmental impact of battery manufacturing and continue to ramp up EV production in the U.S.

“We are designing our battery supply chain to create a fully closed-loop lifecycle to drive down the cost of electric vehicles via a reliable U.S. materials supply chain,” said Lisa Drake, Ford’s North America Chief Operating Officer. “This approach will help ensure valuable materials in end-of-life products re-enter the supply chain and do not wind up in landfills, reducing our reliance on the existing commodities supply chain that will be quickly overwhelmed by industry demand.”

Longer-term, Ford and Redwood plan to work together on the best approach to collect and disassemble end-of-life batteries from Ford’s electric vehicles for recycling and remanufacturing to help reduce the cost associated with battery repairs and raw materials to manufacture all-new batteries.

 

Growing U.S. EV range

All this news comes amid increasing supply and demand for Ford EVs like the Mustang Mach-E, E-Transit commercial van, and F-150 Lightning pickup.

Launched in late 2020, the latest news on the Mustang Mach-E involves the GT and GT Performance Edition that are just hitting the market. They feature electric all-wheel-drive and permanent-magnetic dual motors, including an upgraded secondary electric motor that powers the front wheels for a combined power output of 358 kW and 600-634 lb·ft (814-860 N·m) for a 0-60 mph (0-97 km/h) times of 3.5 and 3.8 s and EPA-estimated ranges of 270 and 260 mi (435 and 418 km).

The order banks are open for the 2022 E-Transit, the first electrified version of the Transit, America’s best-selling commercial van expected to hit the market late this year. With a targeted starting MSRP of $43,295 for the cutaway version, it has attracted more than 450 commercial customers in North America, including 200 top fleets and fleet management companies.

Demand for all-electric vans is growing. Ford’s data show that, in the U.S., 70% of the full-size bus and van business is going all-electric by 2030. That represents more than 300,000 vehicles annually.

In early October, Ford announced that reservations for the highly anticipated all-electric F-150 Lightning had surpassed the 150,000 mark, with over 75% of these reservations coming from outside of Ford. In mid-September, the first pre-production Lightning trucks began rolling out of Ford’s new Rouge Electric Vehicle Center.

To meet growing demand, the company is investing an additional $250 million and adding 450 more direct jobs across the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center, Van Dyke Electric Powertrain Center, and Rawsonville Components Plant. The investment and added jobs will help increase production capacity to 80,000 trucks a year.

“We knew the F-150 Lightning was special, but the interest from the public has surpassed our highest expectations and changed the conversation around electric vehicles,” concluded Bill Ford. “So, we are doubling down, adding jobs and investment to increase production.”