Ford Motor Co. announced several changes to its electric vehicle strategy on Wednesday, including bumping back production of its next generation electric truck at BlueOval City in Stanton.
The $5.6 billion electric truck and battery project in rural West Tennessee was scheduled to begin production in 2025, with customer deliveries of its new EV truck model to begin in 2026. Now, both of those milestones will be in 2027.
Ford told The Commercial Appeal on Wednesday the reason for delaying production is because it wants to use lower-cost battery technology. The hope is the battery technology will allow Ford to reduce costs and help make the Ford full-size EV pickup assembled at BlueOval City, as well as the company’s entire electric vehicle business, more profitable.
“West Tennessee is a linchpin in our plan to create a strong and growing Ford in America,” Ford President and CEO Jim Farley said in a news release. “BlueOval City will be one of the most advanced manufacturing complexes anywhere in the world, and we are counting on the workforce in West Tennessee to produce advanced batteries starting next year, and then our most innovative pickup ever starting in 2027.”
Ford’s massive BlueOval City project is expected to create about 6,000 jobs — through the Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center and BlueOval SK battery plant — and provide a significant economic boost to one of the region’s most economically disadvantaged counties.
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“Construction continues at BlueOval City, where we are excited to launch our next-generation electric truck, which will build on Ford’s century-long heritage of truck leadership,” Lisa Drake, Ford’s vice president of EV programs and energy supply chain, said in a news release. “While we incorporate new lower-cost battery technology, we will use the extra time to make the truck even more competitive-for the long-term benefit of BlueOval City and beyond.”
EV adoption in the U.S. is growing at a more sluggish pace than most automakers and experts had predicted. EV purchases are forecasted to represent about 8.3% of new car sales, according to Cox Automotive, a slight increase from last year when EV’s market share was 7.6%.
In the meantime, automakers like Ford are losing money on EVs. Ford’s electric vehicle business posted a loss of $1.1 billion in the second quarter.
In other changes to Ford’s EV strategy, the Michigan-based automaker said it is canceling plans to make an all-electric three-row SUV built in Canada, while going in a different route to produce hybrid SUVs.
Ford plans to introduce an all-new commercial van that will begin production in 2026 in Ohio, closely followed in 2027 by two new pickup trucks — a medium-sized pickup based on the platform designed by Ford’s California skunkworks team and the electric truck to be assembled in Tennessee.
BlueOval SK at in Stanton will produce the cells for the new van starting in late 2025.
Adrienne Roberts of the Detroit Free Press contributed to this report.
Corey Davis is the Collierville and Germantown reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Corey.Davis@commercialappeal.com or 901-293-1610.
