Posted on 13 Aug 2025
Ford will invest around $5 billion in electrification to deliver a new pickup and produce advanced prismatic lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries in the US, Kallanish reports.
On Monday, the carmaker announced it will inject nearly $2 billion into its Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky to transform its production lines and safeguard 2,200 jobs. The plant will manufacture a new family of “affordable, high-quality” EVs targeting demand from the domestic and export markets.
The first model will be a midsize, four-door electric pickup to be launched in 2027. This “breakthrough product” is planned to have a starting price of about $30,000.
Ford’s ceo Jim Farley says the company has taken a “radical approach” to address the “very hard challenge” of delivering affordable vehicles that delight customers, made by American workers.
“We have all lived through far too many ‘good college tries’ by Detroit automakers to make affordable vehicles that ends up with idled plants, layoffs and uncertainty. So, this had to be a strong, sustainable and profitable business,” he says. “From Day 1, we knew there was no incremental path to success… We tore up the moving assembly line concept and designed a better one. And we found a path to be the first automaker to make prismatic LFP batteries in the US.”
Farley was referring to Ford’s new universal EV platform and EV production system. “The numbers tell the story,” he says, explaining the platform reduces parts by 20% versus a typical vehicle, with 25% fewer fasteners, 40% fewer workstations dock-to-dock in the plant and 15% faster assembly time. Ford claims the vehicles will have a lower cost of ownership over five years than a three-year-old used Tesla Model Y.
Cost reductions will also come from the LFP battery packs, which are cobalt and nickel-free, and also serve as the vehicle’s floor. The latter enables space and weight savings, while its low centre of gravity improves handling.
The carmaker notes that large single-piece aluminium unicastings will replace dozens of smaller parts, enabling the front and rear of the vehicle to be assembled separately. They will then be combined with the third sub-assembly, the structural battery, which is independently assembled with seats, consoles and carpeting, to form the vehicle. With the integration of the EV production system and platform, the Louisville plant could assemble the midsize electric truck up to 40% faster than its current vehicles.
Farley promises the EVs built in Ford’s new platform “won’t be stripped down to the bare essentials”. Instead, these vehicles will be “packed with innovative features and new software experiences that set them apart — and make people want to drive them.”
The ceo also highlights that the LFP batteries to be deployed on the vehicles will be assembled in America, “not imported from China,” even though the technology will be licensed from Chinese giant CATL. Ford had previously pledged to invest $3 billion at its BlueOval Battery Park Michigan to produce these cells.
Source:Kallanish
