Ford’s new Tennessee plant aims to build
500,000 electric trucks a year
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[March 24, 2023]
By Paul Lienert
STANTON, Tennessee (Reuters) -Ford Motor Co plans to build up to 500,000
electric trucks a year at its BlueOval City complex under construction
in western Tennessee, the automaker said on Friday.
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A model of the all-new Ford F-150 Lightning
electric pickup is parked in front of the Ford Motor Company World
Headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, U.S., April 26, 2022.
REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/File Photo |
BlueOval City will assemble several versions of Ford’s
next-generation F-series electric pickup, which the company
calls Project T3.
The Stanton plant northeast of Memphis is part of Ford’s plan to
have global EV production capacity of 2 million vehicles a year
in place by the end of 2026.
Ford said BlueOval City will have a general assembly footprint
that is 30% smaller than that of a traditional assembly plant,
with a higher production capacity. Most current auto plants are
designed to build 250,000-300,000 vehicles a year.
Tesla earlier this month said its future electric vehicle plants
will be up to 40% smaller than traditional plants.
Ford's Project T3 pickup, a successor to the current F150
Lightning, is being developed on a new dedicated EV truck
architecture.
Suppliers have said that new platform, which carries the
internal designation TE1, will also underpin full-size electric
SUVs in 2026 that could supplement or replace the current Ford
Expedition and Lincoln Navigator.
The $5.6 billion BlueOval City complex, which is being jointly
developed with Korean partner SK On, also will have a battery
plant capable of producing about 40 gigawatt-hours worth of
cells — enough supply up to half a million EVs a year.
(Reporting by Paul Lienert in Detroit; Editing by David
Gregorio)
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