Details of a joint project from Ford and SK Innovation
Ford and SK Innovation plan to invest $11.4 billion in a joint venture to produce electric cars and batteries for them. The U.S. automaker will invest $7 billion in the project, which is the largest single amount the concern has allocated in its history.
SK Innovation is a Korean energy company that, among other things, produces lithium-ion batteries. In collaboration with Ford, three plants will be built – in Tennessee and Kentucky. One of the plants will produce batteries, and the other two will produce electric cars. The Tennessee complex, in addition to battery production, will also include a recycling center, an industrial site for suppliers, and assembly facilities. All in all the new joint venture will create more than 11 thousand jobs in the USA.
Cooperation of the American concern with SK Innovation is one of the steps of the realization of the large-scale strategy of the automaker. Throughout its history, Ford has been bringing in income from vehicles with internal combustion engines, but due to the urgency of the environmental problem, the management has decided to reconsider its attitude. Now the company is developing the Ford+ program, which will focus on the creation of electric vehicles. The manufacturer emphasized that to implement the strategy, it will not resort to borrowed funds, and all investments will be made from business revenues.
According to the partners’ plans, production at the new plants will begin in 2025 in Tennessee and in 2026 in Kentucky. The plan is to invest $5.6 billion to launch the production site in Tennessee and $5.8 billion for the two plants in Kentucky.
The large investment from Ford once again confirms that the corporation intends to become a leader in the segment of electric cars. Thanks to the new plants, 129 gigawatt-hours of battery capacity will be produced annually. This number will be able to power more than 1 million electric cars per year. This figure is expected to account for more than 50 percent of electric vehicles, which is expected in the world by 2030.
Another important point for Ford is green manufacturing. The companies plan to build a process with minimal carbon dioxide emissions as well as zero waste. The plant will produce F-series electric pickup trucks, which are already popular. Unlike the F-150 Lightning lineup, the next generation vehicles will be all-electric.
Ford also wants eco-friendly vehicles to become more accessible to a large number of people. To this end, the corporation plans to invest about $525 million over the next five years.
