STANTON, Tenn. — Ford said Friday its under-construction assembly plant in western Tennessee will be capable of building up to 500,000 electric pickup trucks per year at full power, part of the automaker’s push to see until late worldwide to produce 2 million electric vehicles annually by 2026.
The company made the announcement while providing updates on what it calls the BlueOval City project at an event attended by Ford executives, project leaders, politicians and residents living near its sprawling Tennessee site.
The Dearborn, Michigan automaker announced the project in September 2021, which would build the truck plant and battery plant on 1,460 hectares (3,600 acres) in rural Stanton, Haywood County northeast of Memphis. Known as the Memphis Regional Megasite, the land designated by the state for industrial development remained unused for years before Ford moved in.
Ford’s assembly plant and South Korean battery maker SK On’s battery plant will employ about 6,000 people and invest about $5.6 billion, Ford said.
The joint venture will also build two battery plants in Glendale, Kentucky at an estimated investment of $5.8 billion. The projects are expected to create more than 10,800 jobs and shift the automaker’s future manufacturing base south while focusing on green energy.
Construction work at the Tennessee site began last year. Ford plans to start production by 2025, and that schedule remains in place, company officials said
Construction is about 50% complete, said Donna Langford, Ford project manager. Media representatives who took a bus tour of the site in the rain on Friday saw steel skeletons of the massive, partially built structures that will house the battery factory and truck assembly plant will be accommodated. When complete, the site will also include a Tennessee Valley Authority substation to power the facilities and a Tennessee College of Applied Technology to train staff.
The automaker said its second-generation electric truck was “codenamed Project T3,” and Ford CEO Jim Farley touted the truck’s simplified design and high-end technology.
Ford didn’t release pictures of the new truck during the event, but did show colorful drawings made by Tennessee schoolchildren with suggestions for its design – including some trucks that would fly.
Referring to the fast and sturdy Star Wars ship, Farley said the new truck “will be like the Millennium Falcon, with a back porch attached.”
Speaking to reporters, Farley acknowledged that the Tennessee truck factory would be the greenest new facility Ford has ever built.
“Not even close,” Farley said, later adding that “this is a new industrial revolution in terms of clean, carbon-neutral manufacturing.”
According to Ford, the plant is designed as the first campus for CO2-neutral vehicle production. It will have a 30% smaller general assembly footprint than traditional equipment by simplifying subassemblies and reducing the number of stations in the line, Farley said.
“We downsized the facility because we have fewer people and fewer stations,” Farley said.
Ford also said it will use recovered energy from the site to provide carbon-free heat for the assembly plant and save water by reducing evaporation from the site’s cooling towers.
Before the Ford project landed, Tennessee had invested more than $174 million in the idle megasite in Memphis. Tennessee lawmakers have committed to spending nearly $900 million on state incentives, infrastructure upgrades and more as part of a sweeping plan with Ford. The agreement included $500 million in capital grants.
The lease grants Ford the land essentially through December 2051. Rent is $1 for the entire lease term.
Some of the rural west Tennessee counties surrounding the facility are hoping it will help boost their economies.
With an economy largely based on agriculture, Haywood County saw its population decline 4.9% to 17,864 people from 2010 through 2020, one of 14 counties that lost population as Tennessee as a whole grew 8.9%, according to census data.
The factory is expected to bring both small and large businesses to the area, including hotels, restaurants, healthcare facilities and suppliers to the facility, among others. Real estate values could also rise.
Ford executives have pledged to help communities near the plant. The Ford Motor Company Fund announced Friday that it has awarded 17 grants, each ranging from $75,000 to $100,000, to fire departments, arts and park conservation groups, a community center, local governments and other organizations in six counties.
The $1.2 million grant program received 200 applications, said Mary Culler, president of the Ford Motor Company Fund.
“These are the types of grassroots capital projects that these cities and communities are looking for,” Culler said.
To develop its workforce in Tennessee, Ford said it has launched a talent development program that will support STEM instruction in K-12 schools, bring advanced manufacturing education to schools, and expand certification, dual enrollment and internship opportunities for students .
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AP Auto Writer Tom Krisher contributed to this story from Detroit.