The Ford Motor Company announced Monday that they would be building two new environmentally and technologically advanced electric vehicle campuses in Tennessee and Kentucky to produce the next generation of electric F-Series trucks and batteries for future electric Ford and Lincoln vehicles.
The move will be the largest ever one-time investment in the U.S. into electric vehicles, with the automotive manufacturer, and its partner SK Innovation, spending $11.4 billion on the two campuses. The company estimates it will create nearly 11,000 new jobs at the two sites.
“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,” Ford Executive Chair Bill Ford said. “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.”
The investment includes a $5.6 billion mega campus in Stanton, Tenn., called Blue Oval City, that will create an estimated 6,000 new jobs and “reimagine how vehicles and batteries are manufactured,” the company said. The campus will become a vertically integrated ecosystem for Ford to assemble electric F-series vehicles, and will be designed to be carbon neutral with zero landfill waste once it’s fully operational.
In Kentucky, the company, along with its partner SK Innovation, will invest $5.8 billion to build BlueOvalSK Battery Park, a dedicated battery manufacturing complex, creating 5,000 jobs. The site will feature twin battery plants intended to supply Ford’s North American assembly plants with batteries for Ford and Lincoln electric vehicles.
“We are proud to be partnering with Ford as they open a new chapter in automobile history,” Dong-Seob Jee, president of battery business, SK Innovation, said. “We are excited to be taking this decisive leap together, as partners, and to bring about our common vision for a cleaner planet. Our joint venture, BlueOvalSK, will embody this spirit of collaboration. We look forward to growing our trust-based partnership by delivering on our market-leading value proposition, experience and cutting-edge expertise.”