Ford Motor Company announced it will shift focus, discontinuing production of its Lightning EV truck in lieu of hybrid models. The company announced it will also enter the grid-scale battery energy storage manufacturing sector, stating plans to invest $2 billion to scale the business over the next two years.
The major strategic shift is expected to lead to $19.5 billion in charges, the company said.
Ford said the shift to grid-scale storage is intended to capture the large demand from datacenters and infrastructure to support the electric grid.
The automaker will open manufacturing lines at its Louisville, Kentucky plant, producing 5 MWh + battery energy storage systems with lithium-ferro-phosphate prismatic cells, battery modules, and 20-foot DC container systems.
Last week, Ford, SK On, SK Battery America and BlueOval SK entered into a joint venture disposition agreement. Under this mutual agreement, a Ford subsidiary will independently own and operate the Kentucky battery plants. SK On will fully own and operate the Tennessee battery plant.
Separately, Ford will utilize BlueOval Battery Park Michigan in Marshall, Michigan, to produce smaller Amp-hour cells for use in residential energy storage solutions, which it said will begin production in 2026.
Ford said it expected to bring initial capacity at the grid-scale battery plant within 18 months, reaching 20 GWh annual deployment by late 2027.
Pivoting from a focus on the Lightning EV truck, Ford said it is “expanding customer choice” with new gas and hybrid trucks, while also offering an electric vehicle platform designed to support low-cost EV models.
The company’s new Universal EV Platform is described as a flexible, low-cost architecture to support “a high-volume family of smaller, highly efficient and affordable electric vehicles.”
The moves complement the company’s stated plan to launch five new affordable vehicles by the end of the decade, four of which will be assembled in the U.S.
By 2030, Ford expects approximately 50% of its global volume will be hybrids, extended-range EVs and fully electric vehicles, up from 17% in 2025.
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