Ford will invest $5 billion in the production of a new line of EVs and batteries, despite the Trump administration’s removal of EV subsidies.
The carmaker said the investment, in its Louisville assembly plant and the BlueOval battery park in Michigan, will “create or secure” as many as 4,000 jobs for the production of the EV line that will start with a pickup that will have a price tag of just $30,000, and the manufacturing of advanced LFP batteries for electric vehicles.
The pickup and future models from the new family will be produced with Ford’s new Universal EV Platform that promises to make the cars both affordable and high-quality. The first car to get off the assembly line is scheduled for 2027, Ford also said.
“We took a radical approach to a very hard challenge: Create affordable vehicles that delight customers in every way that matters – design, innovation, flexibility, space, driving pleasure, and cost of ownership – and do it with American workers,” Ford president and chief executive Jim Farley said.
Ford, like the other big carmakers in the U.S., has been losing billions from its EV adventure, despite subsidies, tax incentives, and a massive campaign promoting EVs as a better alternative to internal combustion vehicles. Over the last two and a half years, Ford has accumulated EV losses of $12 billion, according to The New York Times. Of that, $2.2 billion was lost in the first half of this year alone. Sales of EVs during this time have been slowing down, with the first-half total down 12% on the year.
In this context, it is a little surprising that Ford is doubling down on EVs, especially under the Trump administration, which clearly has no love for battery-powered vehicles. Perhaps the size of the investment in local manufacturing capacity may soften hearts in Washington.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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