Ford Motor announced plans to invest more than $3.7 billion in its manufacturing plants in Michigan, Missouri, and Ohio as part of its gradual transition to electric vehicles. The company said Thursday it plans to upgrade those facilities to allow them to produce both fully-electric and gasoline-powered vehicles.
Ford said $2.3 billion of the overall investment would go toward electric vehicles as part of a $50 billion electrification investment plan it previously announced. Ford said the state of Michigan and Ohio would provide incentive packages of $150 million and $200 million, respectively.
Ford said it would spend roughly $2 billion in three Michigan facilities to increase the manufacturing output of its new F-150 Lightning pickup truck to 150,000 units and manufacture new gas-powered versions of the Ranger pickup and Mustang sports car. A total of 3,200 new jobs will be created in the state.
Meanwhile, the company plans to spend $1.6 billion on its Ohio operations, which will result in the creation of almost 1,900 jobs, including jobs for the manufacturing of its commercial vehicles. The vehicle to be constructed in Avon Lake will be the next version of the e-Transit van and will begin production in 2026.
About $100 million will be spent in Missouri to add 1,100 workers for a third shift at an assembly plant outside Kansas City to boost production of the electric and gas Transit vans, Ford said. Ford also said $1 billion of the total would be spent over the next five years to improve workplace environments in its facilities, including providing better access to healthy food, installing EV chargers in parking lots, and improving security and lighting in parking lots.
The Michigan-based manufacturer said the expenditures would result in the creation of over 6,200 new jobs and the conversion of 3,000 temporary workers into full-time employees with better benefits and wages. The company added that it plans to add a new electric commercial vehicle to its range by 2025.
In March, Ford stated that it plans to increase its EV expenditure to $50 billion by 2026, up from the $30 billion it previously committed to. The company also said that it would separate its electric vehicle and internal combustion engine divisions in an attempt to catch EV industry leaders such as Tesla.
By the end of 2026, Ford has set a goal of producing more than 2 million electric vehicles annually, accounting for almost one-third of its total output. In August, U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order requiring automakers to offer 50% of new vehicles as electric or plug-in hybrid models by 2030.
