Ford takes $19.5B charge in hybrid pivot, cancels F-150 Lightning EV, launches new battery storage business [View all]

Source: Yahoo Finance

Ford (F) announced a series of moves in its EV business, pivoting to a hybrid and extended-range EV (EREV) strategy instead of full EVs. The company will take a whopping $19.5 billion in charges related to the move. Ford canceled the Lightning EV pickup in its existing form, and the company said it would shift battery production to other areas.

“The operating reality has changed, and we are redeploying capital into higher-return growth opportunities: Ford Pro, our market-leading trucks and vans, hybrids, and high-margin opportunities like our new battery energy storage business,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a statement.

Ford will concentrate its North American EV development on its new, low-cost, flexible Universal EV Platform used for smaller, more efficient EVs designed to tap into a broader range of customers. The first vehicle from the Universal EV Platform will be the fully connected midsize pickup truck assembled at its Louisville Assembly Plant starting in 2027.

As part of this plan, the next iteration of the F-150 Lightning will shift to an EREV architecture and be assembled at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Mich. EREVs are essentially EVs that use an onboard gas engine as a generator to charge the vehicle's batteries.

Ford said production of the current generation F-150 Lightning has concluded, as the company redeploys employees to the Dearborn Truck Plant to support a third crew for F-150 gas and hybrid truck production. The Novelis aluminum plant fires impacted gas-powered F-150 production, prompting the shift.

Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ford-takes-195b-charge-in-hybrid-pivot-cancels-f-150-lightning-ev-launches-new-battery-storage-business-210713166.html