New Ford plant in Tennessee will be able to build up to 500,000 electric pickup trucks

Ford said it will be able to build up to 500,000 electric pickup trucks per year, as part of the $5.6 billion joint project by Ford Motor Co. and battery maker SK on Friday, March 24, 2023 in Stanton, Tenn. AP Photo Adrian Sainz STANTON, Tenn. AP - A new Ford assembly plant in western Tennessee will be able to build up to 500,000 electric pickup trucks per year at full production, the company said Friday.

The Dearborn, Michigan, automaker announced in September of 2021 that it would build a plant and a battery factory on a 3,600 acre 1,460 hectare parcel of land in rural Stanton, northeast of Memphis.

The Memphis Regional Megasite, a land designated by the state for industrial development, sat unused for years before Ford decided to move in.

The construction on the site, called BlueOval City, began last year. Ford said Friday that it plans to start production by 2025, and it said that timetable is still in place. The second-generation electric truck is code named Project T 3 according to the automaker. Ford's assembly plant and battery plant, operated by a joint venture called BlueOvalSK, will employ about 6,000 people with an investment of roughly $5.6 billion, Ford said.

BlueOvalSK will build twin battery plants in Glendale, Kentucky, in an estimated $5.8 billion investment. The projects are expected to create an estimated 10,800 jobs and shift the automaker's future manufacturing footprint to the South while putting emphasis on green energy.

Ford says the Tennessee plant is intended to be its first carbon-neutral vehicle manufacturing campus and it will have a 30% smaller general assembly footprint than traditional plants. Ford also said it would 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 landing the Ford project, Tennessee had invested more than $174 million in the Memphis megasite but couldn't lure the big tenant it wanted to the Haywood County location. Tennessee lawmakers have committed to spending nearly $900 million on state incentives, infrastructure upgrades and more as part of a plan with Ford. The agreement included $500 million in capital grant funds.

The lease grants the land to Ford through December 2051. Some rural West Tennessee counties around the plant hope it will help boost their economies.

With an economy based on farming, Haywood County saw its population shrink by 4.9% to 17,864 people from 2010 to 2020, one of 14 counties to lose population as Tennessee grew by 8.9%, according to census data.

The factory is expected to bring both small and large businesses to the area, including hotels, restaurants, health care facilities, and suppliers for the plant. Real estate values could increase as well.

Ford's leaders pledged to help the communities near the plant. The Ford Motor Co. Fund has awarded 17 capital grants of $75,000 to $100,000 for fire departments, arts and parks conservancy groups, a community center, local governments and other organizations in six counties.

Mary Culler, president of the Ford Motor Company FundFord Motor Company Fund, said the $1.2 million grant program received 200 applications.

These are the kinds of grass-roots capital projects that these towns and municipalities are looking for, Culler said.