Blue Oval Invests $300 Million In Ford EV Plant
The Mustang Mach-E is currently the only Ford EV that customers can buy, but the American automaker is laying the groundwork to expand its electric vehicle offerings. Governments around the world are pushing mandates for manufacturers to produce more 100% electric vehicles. To meet that goal, OEMs are making significant investments to expand their EV production.
$300 million invested in U.K.-based Ford EV parts plant
Ford U.K. announced that it will invest £230 million ($316 million) to produce electric vehicle parts and components at its Halewood factory located in northern, England according to a report from Reuters.
Ford said that the plant will produce approximately 250,000 power units per year starting in the middle of 2024. The Halewood factory will be the first European facility to produce Ford EV parts. This sizable investment is part of Ford’s pledge that its entire lineup of vehicles in Europe will be all-electric by 2030.
Furthermore, Ford did receive some help from the British government’s Automotive Transformation Fund. The fund provides 10% of the total investment value earmarked for automakers.
“This is an important step, marking Ford’s first in-house investment in all-electric vehicle component manufacturing in Europe,” said Ford’s Europe President Stuart Rowley.
Ford is investing in EV production in the United States too
The Ford EV push is not just in Europe; the American automaker wants to expand its electric vehicle offerings globally. That means Ford needs to make investments in its plants all over the world, America included. After the Ford F-150 Lightning was revealed, the demand for the electric pick-up truck was more significant than expected.
The prospect of an electric truck that isn’t gaudy like the Tesla Cybertruck and not expensive like the Rivian R1T was attractive enough to land Ford 150,000 reservations for the F-150 Lightning. Initially, Ford planned on producing 40,000 F-150 Lightning trucks per year. After the reservations started rolling in, Ford realized it had a hit on its hand and announced that it would invest in new facilities just to produce the F-150 Lightning and other electric vehicles.
As a result, Ford announced that it would double the annual production of the F-150 Lightning from 40,000 units per year to 80,000 units.
Ford stands to benefit from more electric vehicle production
As part of the push to get more people to switch to electric vehicles, new legislation has been presented to Congress that would increase EV tax credits by an additional $4,500 and max out at $12,500. However, there is a bit of a catch.
The way the legislation is currently written, only electric vehicles built by union labor in a unionized plant would qualify for the increased tax credits. So, EVs from Toyota, Nissan, and most notably Tesla would not be eligible. Though, electric cars from “the big three” do qualify. Hence, customers would be much more incentivized to purchase a Ford EV should the legislation pass.
Executives from competing brands are making an effort to expand the requirements for the increased tax credits, but the legislation may pass as it is currently written. That means Ford will need to be ready to sell more EVs in the near future.
