Ford Motor Company and battery manufacturer SK Innovation plan to spend $11.4 billion to build two massive campuses in Tennessee and Kentucky that will produce batteries as well as the next generation of electric F-Series trucks — a project the companies said will create 11,000 new jobs, Report informs, citing foreign media.
Facilities on the two campuses are designed to cover the entire ecosystem of building an electric vehicle from battery cell production and recycling to a supplier park and an assembly plant. Ford is contributing $7 billion to the project, the largest single manufacturing investment in its 118-year history. The investment is part of Ford’s previously announced plan to put $30 billion toward electric vehicles by 2025.
Ford said it will build twin battery plants. Batteries produced at the plants will be used in a new lineup of Ford and Lincoln electric vehicles later this decade. Production of lithium-ion batteries is expected to begin in 2025.