Ford’s BlueOval City in Tennessee takes shape: Watch the progress
Ford plans to train West Tennessee residents for jobs at its Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center and begin hiring hourly workers in 2025.
Ford Motor Co. announced several changes to its electric vehicle strategy on Wednesday, including a delay in production of its next-generation electric truck at BlueOval City in Stanton.
Production of the $5.6 billion electric truck and battery project in rural West Tennessee was scheduled to begin in 2025, with deliveries of the new electric truck model to customers beginning in 2026. Now, both of those milestones will be reached in 2027.
Ford told The Commercial Appeal on Wednesday that the reason for delaying production is because the company wants to use lower-cost battery technology. It hopes that the battery technology will allow Ford to cut costs and make the Ford full-size EV pickup truck assembled in BlueOval City, as well as the company’s overall electric vehicle business, more profitable.
“West Tennessee is a linchpin of our plan to create a strong and growing Ford in America,” Ford President and CEO Jim Farley said in a press release. “BlueOval City will be one of the most advanced manufacturing complexes in the world, and we’re counting on the West Tennessee workforce to produce advanced batteries starting next year and then our most innovative pickup truck ever starting in 2027.”
Ford’s massive BlueOval City project is expected to create about 6,000 jobs through the Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center and BlueOval SK battery plant and provide a significant economic boost to one of the region’s most economically disadvantaged counties.
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“Construction continues at BlueOval City, and we look forward to unveiling our next-generation electric truck, which builds on Ford’s century-old heritage as a leading truck manufacturer,” said Lisa Drake, Ford’s vice president of electric vehicle programs and energy supply chain, in a press release. “As we incorporate new, more cost-effective battery technology, we will use the additional time to make the truck even more competitive – for the long-term benefit of BlueOval City and beyond.”
Electric vehicle adoption in the U.S. is growing more slowly than most automakers and experts predicted. According to Cox Automotive, electric vehicle purchases are expected to account for about 8.3% of new car sales. That’s a slight increase from last year, when electric vehicle market share was 7.6%.
Meanwhile, automakers like Ford are making losses on electric vehicles. Ford’s electric vehicle division reported a loss of $1.1 billion in the second quarter.
In further changes to Ford’s electric vehicle strategy, the Michigan-based automaker announced it is abandoning plans to build an all-electric, three-row SUV in Canada and instead taking a different path toward hybrid SUV production.
Ford plans to launch an all-new van, with production set to begin in Ohio in 2026, closely followed by two new pickup trucks in 2027 – a midsize pickup based on the platform designed by Ford’s California-based Skunkworks team, and the electric truck, to be assembled in Tennessee.
BlueOval SK in Stanton will produce the cells for the new van from the end of 2025.
Adrienne Roberts of the Detroit Free Press contributed to this report.
Corey Davis is the Collierville and Germantown reporter for The Commercial Appeal. Reach him at [email protected] or 901-293-1610.
