LOUISVILLE, KY. AND MARSHALL, MICH. — Automotive giant Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) will invest $2 billion at its Louisville Assembly Plant and $3 billion at its BlueOval Battery Park Michigan factory. Combined, the investment will create and secure approximately 4,000 jobs across both plants, as well as spur dozens of new U.S.-based suppliers, according to Ford.
Ford’s investments will help the automaker deliver a suite of electric vehicles (EVs), beginning with a midsize, four-door electric pickup truck that will be assembled at its Louisville plant. Ford plans to launch domestic and international sales of the new trucks, which are expected to be priced starting at $30,000, in 2027.
Jim Farley, president and CEO of Ford, says that the automaker will be the first in the country to make prismatic lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, which are cobalt- and nickel-free and serve as the floor of the new EVs. Ford plans to begin manufacturing the new prismatic LFP batteries for the new electric truck at BlueOVal Battery Park Michigan next year.
Located in Marshall, Mich., the factory is under construction, with the shell built out and mechanical, electrical and piping infrastructure underway. Ford says that the lithium LFP battery cell production equipment is already operational but not installed at the factory yet.
Ford will expand the Louisville facility by 52,000 square feet, which the company says will help workers to move materials more efficiently. Ford also plans to invest in digital infrastructure upgrades at the plant, which should make it the fastest network with the most access points out of any Ford plant globally. The Louisville expansion project is supported by an incentive offer from the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority.
“This announcement not only represents one of the largest investments on record in our state, it also boosts Kentucky’s position at the center of EV-related innovation and solidifies Louisville Assembly Plant as an important part of Ford’s future,” says Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear. “Ford and Kentucky have been a tremendous team for more than 100 years, and that partnership has never been stronger than it is today.”
Ford introduced the new Ford Universal EV Platform and Ford Universal EV Production System at a press conference yesterday. The new EV platform reduces parts by 20 percent versus a typical vehicle, with 25 percent fewer fasteners, 40 percent fewer workstations dock-to-dock in the plant and 15 percent faster assembly time, according to Ford.
The EV production system represents a departure from the company’s famous assembly line approach, representing more of “an assembly tree” with multiple conveyers converging at strategic points. With new methodology in the vehicle casting, the front and back of the vehicles can be assembled separately. Ford estimates that its new EV vehicles will be assembled 40 percent faster than vehicles assembled in Louisville now.
Ford is one of the world’s leading automotive manufacturers, producing 4.7 million automobiles in 2024 alone, according to data from Factory Warranty List, a division of F&I Tools. Ford’s stock price closed on Monday, Aug. 11 at $11.14 per share, up from $9.86 a year ago, a nearly 13 percent increase.
— John Nelson