Ford to invest $11.4 billion in Blue Oval City plant

Artist’s impression of the Blue Oval City plant

In a move which could serve as a model for streamlining assembly of electric trucks and off-highway machinery, Ford Motor and SK Innovation have announced that they are to invest $11.4 billion (£8.43 billion, €9.77 billion) in construction of a next-generation vehicle production complex.

Named Blue Oval City, the complex will be located on a six square mile site in west Tennessee. The plant will produce electric versions of the F-150 pickup, plus lithium-ion battery packs for the vehicles.

Much like the setup of the original Rouge plant in Detroit vehicle production will be vertically integrated, with various Tier suppliers also located on the campus.

In addition to the battery plant at Blue Oval City, two further battery plants are to be constructed at the BlueOvalSK Battery Park in central Kentucky.

The three battery plants will have a production capacity reaching 129 GWh per year.

Production of the new vehicles and the li-ion battery packs is expected to start in 2025.

The creation of the Blue Oval City complex and related battery plants follows the recent new that Ford will work with Redwood Materials to develop closed-loop domestic battery recycling.

The OEM is investing a further $525 million across various sites in the US to train technicians to service zero-emissions electric vehicles.

The $11.4 billion to set up the plant is part of a $30 billion plan to invest in production of EVs through 2025.