Ford and a partner company announced that they plan to build three major electric vehicle battery factories and an auto assembly plant by 2025 – a major investment in the future of this technology that will create an estimated 10,800 jobs and shape the future of the automaker’s production in the southern United States.
The plants, which will be in Kentucky and Tennessee, will produce batteries for the next generation of Ford and Lincoln electric models to be manufactured in North America. Combined, they are the largest production investment ever made in the company’s 118 years, and among the largest in the world.
Specifically, the new factories will provide a large number of jobs that are likely to have good wages. Most of the new positions will be full-time, with a relatively low percentage of temporary jobs to cover vacations or sick leave.
Together with its battery partner, South Korean firm SK Innovation, Ford said it will invest $ 5.6 billion in Stanton, a rural part of Tennessee, where it will install a plant to produce F-Series electric trucks. A joint venture called BlueOvalSK will build a factory of batteries at the same location near Memphis, plus two others in Glendale, Kentucky, near Louisville. Ford estimated that investment in Kentucky will amount to 5.8 billion and that the company’s total outlay will be 7 billion dollars.
With this new project, Ford is betting significantly on a future in which it foresees that most drivers will switch at some point from the internal combustion engine that has been driving vehicles in the United States for more than a century to electric batteries. . If this transition encounters obstacles or delays, the bet could affect the results of the group.