Ford announces $11.4bn investment, 11, 000 jobs in electric vehicle plants
Sopuruchi Onwuka, with agency reports
American biggest automobile brand, Ford, has unveiled plans to sink princely $11.4 billion or N5.7 trillion in production of a range of electric vehicle brands that would dominate its products in the next nine years.
The company stated that the new production site to be built in Tennessee would be called Blue Oval City which, according to its statement, would cover a six-square-mile area.
The factory, according to the company, will build next-generation electric pickup trucks and batteries from 2025. It added that its battery parks in Kentucky would power a new line-up of Ford and Lincoln EVs.
Ford’s president and Chief Executive, Jim Farley, stated: “This is our moment – our biggest investment ever – to help build a better future for America. We are moving now to deliver breakthrough electric vehicles for the many rather than the few.”
The Oracle Today reports that investments in emission free automobiles form the new focus of international lenders as the global governments and corporations commit to net zero emission limits and green energy targets.
A review of reports of automobile innovation in the US shows that several traditional car makers and auto giants are expected to drive more than a dozen electric models into showrooms this year, competing for drivers alongside stand-alone EV startups such as Lucid Motors Inc. and Rivian Automotive LLC, as well as electric flag-bearer Tesla Inc.
In Europe and Asia, popular automobile brands like BMW, Volkswagen, Nissan, Toyota, Mercedes Benz and others form partnerships and special purpose entities on establishment of EV plants as they begin migration from internal combustion engines.
The investment, along with similar outlays by many other automakers, marks a significant step energy demand transition from petroleum which currently fires over 95 percent of global automobiles, shipping vessels and air planes.
It also marks a major transition from the internal combustion engines in automobile technology and holds promise to drastically cut global fossil fume emission.
The emerging streak of electric vehicle investments also spells gloom for oil producing countries that depend on petroleum income to develop their domestic economies and fight pervasive poverty in their populations.
Ford, one of the biggest brands in the American automobile industry has in the week declared investment outlay for biggest ever factory in Tennessee, and two battery parks in Kentucky.
Under the $11.4billion plan that would employ 11,000 workers, Ford said it would build zero-emission cars and pickups under a plan to make half of all its output emission free by 2030.
Ford has already ramped up investment in EV production at its Texas and Michigan plants. It said it would be making the new investments in partnership with SK Innovation, a South Korean battery maker.
Outside of a few major metropolitan areas, EVs still aren’t very common in the US and the country accounted for just 2% of new EV sales globally last year.
The Biden administration hopes to change this with tougher tailpipe emissions rules from 2026 and billions of dollars of spending on new charging points and consumer incentives.
