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Ford's EV push, NBC exclusive


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NBC News had an exclusive report about Ford's EV programs. I can't find any links yet.

Some details: a new assembly plant near Memphis for EVs, and two new battery factories in the Louisville area.

They interviewed Bill Ford inside the Rouge F150 Lightning facility.

Edited by AGR
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38 minutes ago, fuzzymoomoo said:

IMO, this means the end of the Flat Rock Assembly Plant. 

The new plant is supposed to be building F-150s.   I would be more concerned about Dearborn assembly and Kansas City.

 

I guess the Rouge F-150 Lightning plant is dead before it even gets started.

Edited by Footballfan
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9 minutes ago, Footballfan said:

Thanks Bill Ford Jr for turning your back on your home state.

 

Thanks Gretchen Whitmer you political tramp for working so hard to get these two plants in Michigan. Your too busy working to close businesses than attract them. 

 

Ford has already announced major investments in Michigan. You don't invest only in your home state, you have to diversify to other states.

 

 

 

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28 minutes ago, Footballfan said:

Thanks Bill Ford Jr for turning your back on your home state.

 

Thanks Gretchen Whitmer you political tramp for working so hard to get these two plants in Michigan. Your too busy working to close businesses than attract them. 

Absolutely nothing wrong with investing in other regions man. Stop taking it so personally.

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28 minutes ago, Footballfan said:

The new plant is supposed to be building F-150s.   I would be more concerned about Dearborn assembly and Kansas City.

 

I guess the Rouge F-150 Lightning plant is dead before it even gets started.

 

No, the new plant is for Super Duty electric pickups. Dearborn remains as home to gas and electric F150. 

 

However, next Ford/UAW contract talks should be interesting with this announcement as TN and KY electric workers get to decide if they want union representation or not. 

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13 minutes ago, DeluxeStang said:

Absolutely nothing wrong with investing in other regions man. Stop taking it so personally.

You have to admit with idiots like Whitmer too busy playing politics, and Dingell and Tlaib always bitching about the pollution the plants make in their district, Michigan is not the best pro business state. 

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33 minutes ago, Footballfan said:

You have to admit with idiots like Whitmer too busy playing politics, and Dingell and Tlaib always bitching about the pollution the plants make in their district, Michigan is not the best pro business state. 


i don’t think this was politically motivated at all since Ford has dumped billions in the state no matter who is governor all the while the southern states have dangled tons of tax incentives and other economic benefits.  
Would I rather of  seen the investment in Michigan?  Maybe but also see changing landscape and it’s better than China.  I live in Georgia and like the Koreans heavy investment in our state and would of been interesting where all those sites mentioned stacked up.  
This is a huge move of many to come.  

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The auto industry trek south started years ago with the mentality of a very vocal group of workers around the upper Midwest that are just a pain to deal with. 
 

If any assembly plant should be worried it would be Chicago; Place has been nothing but problems for the better part of 20 years. 
 

 

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1 hour ago, Footballfan said:

Did you not read the article you posted?  The next gen F150 electric trucks will be built in the new plant starring in 2025.

 

The article said F-Series, not F-150. No one even knows the sales volume of Lightning yet other than the orders so far. "F-Series" could always use extra plant if BEV sales take off. Farley says he has hard time sleeping at night worrying about how many want expensive electric vehicles that are unaffordable for many.

 

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Ford desperately needs EV capacity. A central plant that produces strictly EV is the best choice. A new modern plant that can pivot quickly based on model adoption.  Dearborn does not have the capacity to build nearly 400,000 ICE and 80,000 BEV units annually as the planned. 

Edited by muse3115
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The scale investment in BEVs and battery production should leave no doubt

that Ford is just as committed if not more than GM in the coming electric future.

 

What I see is a mega complex in Tennessee that will make Tesla look like amateurs

and a second F Series electric plant that will get the ball rolling with Super Duty and

Expedition / Navigator BEV production. Both of those plants are needed to allow Ford

the long transition required  to change the production ratio of ICE trucks and SUVs.

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Details from Automotive News:

Blue Oval City

Blue Oval City in Tennessee, a $5.6 billion project, will spread out over six square miles. Ford said the site would be vertically integrated similar to the Rouge Complex.

The assembly plant, which is Ford's first new greenfield plant since Kentucky Truck opened in 1969, will be carbon-neutral and built with the potential to use geothermal, solar and wind power, Ford said.

"This is intended to be an incredibly efficient ecosystem," Drake said. "It doesn't matter much if you build an EV if you're not as conscious about how you're building it. The whole site layout and environment is just as important as the product we're building."

Officials declined to say whether the trucks built there starting in 2025 would be F-150s or Super Duty pickups, but they said it will allow the company to "reach new customers with an expanded electric truck lineup." It will feature the company's new, dedicated EV architecture unveiled in May.

Drake said Ford viewed the future vehicle production at the Tennessee assembly plant as incremental to the internal combustion F-150s currently built in Missouri and Michigan, as well as the electric F-150 Lightning, which also will be made in Michigan.

"We believe we have room to grow the F-Series franchise," Drake said. "This investment is all about growth. It's a fantastic thing for those employees in Kansas City and Dearborn because it just reinforces how strong the F-Series franchise is."

The Blue Oval City campus will include room for Redwood Materials, a battery-recycling company created by Tesla co-founder JB Straubel. Ford this month announced a partnership with Redwood to recycle EV battery components and eventually use recycled parts in future products.

The site — three times the size of the automaker's sprawling Rouge Complex in Michigan — will hire about 6,000 people to assemble next-generation electric F-Series pickups and include battery cell production and a supplier park, Ford said. It's expected to open in 2025.

 

South of Louisville, Ford will build a 1,500-acre battery park under its BlueOvalSK joint venture with battery supplier SK Innovation. The site will comprise two battery plants making advanced lithium ion batteries, with one opening in 2025 and the other in 2026. Ford said the Kentucky site will create 5,000 jobs.

SK Innovation is committing $4.4 billion on the projects, bringing the total investment to $11.4 billion, Ford said. Ford formed a partnership with SK Innovation in May after CEO Jim Farley reversed plans by his predecessor to buy batteries from outside suppliers, choosing to instead produce them in-house.

Ford said the two campuses will have annual battery production capacity of 129 gigawatt hours, which is enough to power 1 million EVs. The Tennessee battery plant will be dedicated to the next-generation F-Series, while the twin plants in Kentucky will make batteries for numerous Ford and Lincoln vehicles, the company said.

https://www.autonews.com/manufacturing/ford-spend-7b-ev-campuses-ky-tenn?utm_source=breaking-news&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20210927&utm_content=hero-headline

 

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Too bad a certain someone is on a vacation now LOL

 

8 hours ago, FordBuyer said:

Farley says he has hard time sleeping at night worrying about how many want expensive electric vehicles that are unaffordable for many.

 

 

The weird thing is that pricing has remained "flat" taking in inflation into account...that 1995 Ranger special for $9999 is worth about 17900 today, or about 2K less then an entry level Maverick, that has a hybrid and alot more creature comforts

 

The other thing is that BEVs are still in their infancy technologically, which once a 300-400 mile range baseline is established with inexpensive tech, the prices should come down to an affordable level. Sort of like the the $5K computer in the early 1990s going for $1000 at the end of the decade. 

 

I'd venture to say by the middle of next decade that should be a reality.  

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