(WXYZ) — Ford Motor Company is shifting their electrification plans, moving their focus to more hybrids, and ending the production of the all-electric F-150 Lightning. As part of the move, the company is also taking a $19.5 billion write-down over the next three years, with the majority occurring in the fourth quarter of 2025.
The company says they are shifting to higher-return opportunities, a move which means the end of production of select larger electric vehicles. The move also means Ford's electric vehicle production will be focused on their universal EV platform, which is used for smaller, affordable models. The first vehicle to use this platform will be a midsize pickup truck assembled at the Louisville Assembly Plant starting in 2027. The Lightning will be shifted to an extended-range electric vehicle architecture and will still be assembled at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn.
“This is a customer-driven shift to create a stronger, more resilient and more profitable Ford,” said Ford president and CEO Jim Farley in a news release. “The operating reality has changed, and we are redeploying capital into higher-return growth opportunities: Ford Pro, our market-leading trucks and vans, hybrids, and high-margin opportunities like our new battery energy storage business.”
The company says under their new initiative, Ford's global volume of hybrids, extended-range EVs, and electric vehicles will rise to 50% by 2030 from the 17% today. However, the company says their BlueOval City complex, under construction in Tennessee, will now build new pickups.
The plant was once touted as "leading the electric revolution by reimagining how electric vehicles and batteries are designed, built, and recycled."
Once set to be named the Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center, it has now been renamed Tennessee Truck Plant. Production of gas-powered trucks at the plant is set to start in 2029.
The company also says they will produce new gas and hybrid vans at the Ohio Assembly plant, and that they expect to hire thousands of new employees in the US over the next few years.
Ford is also moving into energy infrastructure, planning to produce battery energy storage systems using lithium iron phosphate technology at plants in Kentucky and Michigan. They say they will begin shipping these systems with 20 gigawatt-hours of annual capacity in 2027. Ford plans to invest roughly $2 billion in the next two years to scale the business.
The Kentucky facility will be used to produce larger systems, while the Marshall, Michigan, facility will produce smaller systems for residential uses, as well as LFP prismatic battery cells in 2026 to power Ford’s upcoming midsize electric truck.
