The amount of investment being put into the automotive industry’s evolution to electrification is staggering. From start-ups to the ‘legacy’ carmakers, from tech companies to recyclers, all are pumping money into research and development, new factories, joint ventures, renewable energy, and innumerable other initiatives in a bid to be leaders in an electrified future.

For Ford, this investment includes the building of a ‘mega-campus’, called Blue Oval City, in the US state of Tennessee – a facility which will, the company says, be capable of producing 500,000 electric trucks per year when at full production.

Ford and its Korean battery-manufacturer partner SK On are investing $US5.6 billion ($AU8.5 billion) into Blue Oval City, which Ford says will be its first carbon neutral vehicle manufacturing and battery campus and is a key part of the company’s plan to scale electric vehicle (EV) production – it says it is targeting a production run rate of two million EVs annually across the globe by the end of 2026.

The 3,600-acre campus will be incorporate a fully integrated Blue Oval SK battery manufacturing site where a team will build battery cells and arrays and assemble battery packs that will be delivered to the assembly plant.

Ford says the plant will use carbon-free electricity from the day it opens, and also use recovered energy from the site’s utility infrastructure and geothermal system to provide carbon-free heat for the assembly plant, and save tens of millions of litres of water each year by reducing evaporation from the site’s cooling towers. A zero-waste-to-landfill site is designed to use no fresh water for its assembly processes.

Production at Blue Oval City is planned to begin in 2025, and it will be home to Ford’s second-generation electric truck, codenamed Project T3. Ford is developing its second-generation EV truck in tandem with the assembly plant.

Project T3 is short for “Trust The Truck”, and while details are few on what can be expected, Ford says the team behind it are aiming to create ‘a truck people can trust in the digital age – one that’s fully updatable, constantly improving, and supports towing, hauling, exportable power and endless new innovations owners will want.’

“Project T3 is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to revolutionise America’s truck. We are melding 100 years of Ford truck know-how with world-class electric vehicle, software and aerodynamics talent. It will be a platform for endless innovation and capability,” said Jim Farley, Ford president and CEO.

Ford says around 6000 jobs are expected to be created at Blue Oval City and it is investing not just in the site but in the people that will work there. Talent development programs the company is investing in include supporting K-12 (kindergarten to 12th grade) schools and universities to expand existing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) programs; bring advanced manufacturing training and programs to local schools; and collaborate with higher education institutions to provide training on advanced manufacturing, EVs and battery manufacturing, amongst other initiatives.

VIDEO: CODE NAME: PROJECT T3 | COMING 2025

Source: Motor Trader e-Magazine (April 2023)

17 April 2023