Ford Motor Company’s announcement that it will invest $11 billion in the production of electric vehicles will mean 10,800 jobs in Kentucky and Tennessee.
The initiative reflects what clean energy advocates have been saying for years — that electric vehicles can create jobs — but the decision to stop producing products that require fossil fuels was likely not a sudden change of heart for the company.
Ford has been facing increased economic and political pressure to switch to electric vehicles, both in the United States and in Europe.
On Tuesday, the carmaker formally unveiled its plans to manufacture fully-electric F150 trucks and their batteries on a new 3,600-acre campus in west Tennessee starting in 2025. William Clay Ford Jr., the great-grandson of Ford’s namesake and current executive chair, said that climate concerns helped inspire company change.
“The tragic floods that ravaged parts of Tennessee last month are fast becoming the norm, rather than a rare exception. And we see this as a call to action to design and build a future that will reshape the economy and protect our planet in ways that work for all of our families,” Ford said during a press conference Tuesday.
In addition to electrifying their most popular truck, Ford said the new auto manufacturing site in Tennessee will be the world’s first that’s carbon-neutral.
“We’re looking at every aspect of production, every drop of water, every ounce of raw materials, every watt of electricity that we’re going to need,” Ford said. “Our vision is to create a closed, clean loop of auto-manufacturing.”
‘Goodbye to gas’
Ford’s new slogan for the electric F150 is, “Say goodbye to gas,” and it’s not the only company facing calls to reduce oil-related emissions. In just the past few months, there have been shareholder and court actions against some of the globe’s biggest oil companies, like Chevron, Shell and ExxonMobil.
In May, a court in the Netherlands ruled that Shell, which is headquartered in The Hague, must slash its greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030 compared to 2019 levels. Two years ago, Shell’s global greenhouse gas emissions were estimated at 1.65 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, around the same as Russia, the world’s fourth-largest polluter, Bloomberg reported earlier this year.
In the U.S., there are about 1,400 climate lawsuits in the U.S., according to the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School. Another 456 cases are pending outside the U.S.
Ford’s latest decision follows a February announcement to make all passenger cars fully electric by 2030 in the European Union, which last year began imposing penalties on carmakers that don’t adhere to limits on carbon emissions.
The move might foreshadow the nation’s push for stronger climate regulations and EV incentives. Federal lawmakers could be voting Thursday on a budget package that would prompt a $13.5 billion investment in an EV charging network and customer tax credits as high as $12,500 per electric vehicle — with special incentives for cars and batteries made in the U.S. with union employees.
Initial investor response to Ford’s new direction seems to be positive, as shares of Ford were up 61% year-to-date on Monday.
Ford campus will also include new trade school for EV and battery manufacturing and repair
Ford’s new auto manufacturing site in West Tennessee will also house a new Tennessee College of Applied Technology campus. The technical college will train people to make and repair electric vehicles and batteries.
“This partnership between the state and Ford will create another avenue for Tennessee workers to skill up and settle down with a great American company,” Gov. Bill Lee said during a press conference Tuesday.
EV training at the new campus will be developed with Ford and the battery company, SK Innovation.
The manufacturing site is expected to be up and running in 2025, but the state has not yet announced when the school will open or how many students would be enrolled each year.
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