Ford Pivots From EVs to Energy Storage Systems
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
Ford’s EV battery factory in Glendale, KY, will soon be making batteries for utility-scale energy storage.
Five years ago, Ford Motor Co. and SK Innovation Co. Ltd. announced a joint venture to manufacture batteries for the automaker’s electric vehicles. The two companies invested billions of dollars in the initiative, which was to include a pair of new, state-of-the-art assembly plants: BlueOvalSK Battery Park in Glendale, KY, and BlueOval City in Stanton, TN.
“This is a transformative moment where [we] will lead America’s transition to electric vehicles and usher in a new era of clean, carbon-neutral manufacturing,” Bill Ford, the automaker’s executive chair, said at the time. “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.”
“This is our moment—our biggest investment ever—to help build a better future for America,” added Jim Farley, president and CEO of Ford. “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.”
Alas, those bold visions did not materialize, and demand for EVs never met expectations. Then, when the Trump administration nixed the clean vehicle tax credit last year, the bottom really fell out of the EV market.
In December 2025, SK ended its joint venture with Ford, and the automaker announced a $19.5 billion write-down on its EV investments. Much of that sum reflects expenses related to canceling fully electric models that had been years in the making.
Now, Ford is shifting its focus to hybrid vehicles and conventional gas-powered models, and it’s repurposing two new assembly plants that suddenly have nothing to make.
Originally intended to assemble a next-generation electric pickup truck and its batteries, BlueOval City was expected to be operational in 2025. Instead, Ford will just build gas-powered pickups at the factory, which will be renamed the Tennessee Truck Plant in 2029.
Looking for quick answers on assembly and manufacturing topics? Try Ask ASM, our new smart AI search tool. Ask ASM
At BlueOval SK Battery Park, production of batteries for the all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning began in August 2025 and ended a few months later. Most of the factory’s 1,500-member workforce was laid off in February.
Rather than walk away entirely from that factory, Ford is trying something different. In May, the automaker announced a new venture: Ford Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary that will manufacture battery energy storage systems (BESS) for utilities, data centers, and large industrial customers. Ford Energy plans to produce 20 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of energy storage annually from the factory.
The BlueOvalSK battery assembly plant was highly automated. Photo courtesy Ford Motor Co.
The company’s flagship product is the DC block, a standardized 20-foot containerized BESS built around 512 amp-hour lithium iron phosphate prismatic cells. It comes in two configurations: The FE-250 is a two-hour system, and the FE-450 is a four-hour system. Both deliver 5.45 megawatt-hours of rated energy capacity, operate across a 1,040 to 1,500 voltage range, and integrate liquid-cooled thermal management with a proprietary battery management system.
Ford Energy has already inked a five-year agreement to provide BESS to EDF Power Solutions North America, which operates wind, solar and other green energy systems. The agreement will give EDF the ability to procure up to 4 GWh of BESS from Ford Energy annually, representing a total potential volume of up to 20 GWh. Deliveries are expected to begin in 2028.
The venture is not without risk. Ford has little experience making such batteries, and it will have multiple competitors, including Tesla, LG Energy Solution and former partner SK On, all of whom have been making BESS for a while now.
Still, we applaud Ford for making lemonade out of lemons, and we wish the company nothing but the best.
Looking for a reprint of this article?
From high-res PDFs to custom plaques, order your copy today!
