Ford released a major announcement on Monday about increasing electric vehicle production with three battery gigafactories and a new, giant factory for electric-powered pickup trucks. The company is calling the truck production site “Blue Oval City,” a complex in Tennessee that will span six square miles. Ford’s $7 billion investment in the endeavor is the largest ever made by an American car company.
An Ambitious Partnership
Joining Ford in the milestone endeavor is Korean battery cell company, SK Innovation. In addition to the new production “city,” the partnership will build a park in Kentucky for car battery production. This big move by Ford follows news of Tesla and its spectacular rise in sales that made Elon Musk the richest man in the world after his fortune tripled during the pandemic.
The investments by both manufacturers will exceed $11 billion for the construction of the new factories and production sites, and the facilities are expected to create 11,000 new jobs. The new batteries and trucks should begin to roll out in 2025, and, In the meantime, Ford will increase production of their electric vehicles from 15,000 in 2022 to 80,000 in 2024. The target for 2025, when the new factories are in full swing, is to produce 160,000 EVs.
A Wealth of New Jobs in America’s Heartland
Blue Oval City, the manufacturing campus being built in Stanton, TN, will provide 6000 new jobs, and the new production park in Kentucky will create at least 5000 jobs. The Tennessee site will contain an ecosystem that implements recycling with zero emissions and a goal to produce zero landfill waste.
The park in Kentucky that is being called BlueOvalSK will cost $5.8 billion, and the batteries produced in the two factories there are intended for next-generation electric Ford and Lincoln models. These big expansion projects have been enabled by the success of Ford electric vehicles that include the Ford F-150 Lightning pickup truck, Mustang Mach-E and the E-Transit. Revenue increases have also prompted Ford to increase hiring at its manufacturing center in Dearborn, MI.
The final agreements between Ford and SK Innovation are still in process, and the production facility plans are still awaiting the approval of regulatory bodies. Ford revealed in a press release that its vision for the future is to usher in a new era of clean manufacturing and to reduce the impact of car production on the climate crisis.