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- Ford is shifting its electric vehicle strategy to include Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV) technology in its F-150 Lightning.
- The company will expand its hybrid and gasoline powertrain options, expecting them to make up half of global sales by 2030.
- Ford plans to hire thousands of new U.S. employees for roles in vehicle assembly and battery energy storage systems.
Ford Motor Co. has announced a pivot in its future electric vehicle strategy that includes keeping the all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup in production.
But it said the new model will use Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV) technology, meaning it has a generator on it to recharge it, giving it an estimated range of more than 700 miles and added charging capacity.
Ford made the announcement Monday, Dec. 15, along with several other announcements including that it will offer a range of hybrid and gasoline powertrains on its vehicles to complement its upcoming new Universal EV Platform, which Ford unveiled in August. By 2030, the company said it expects that half of all vehicles Ford sells globally will be hybrids, extended-range EVs and electric vehicles compared with 17% today.
The Dearborn automaker also said it will hire “thousands of new employees” in the United States over the next few years as it shifts production in various plants and starts a new business building battery energy storage systems at its facilities in Kentucky and Marshall, Michigan. The automaker also said it plans on assembling new pickups at BlueOval City in Tennessee and a new gasoline powered and hybrid van will be produced at its Ohio Assembly Plant in Sheffield, Ohio.
Ford said all these actions will help its profit margins, and at its Model e division, which is Ford’s electric vehicle unit, it expects it will start seeing improvements to revenue starting next year and reach profitability in 2029. In the last few years, Ford has bled billions from its Model e division; last year alone Ford lost $5 billion on EVs.
As a result of all these changes, the company said it will record $19.5 billion in charges, with most of it taken in the fourth quarter. Of that $19.5 billion, about $5.5 billion are cash charges with the majority of that being paid in 2026 and the remainder in 2027.
But Ford said due to continued underlying business strength and cost improvements, it is increasing its projected adjusted earnings before interest and taxes for 2025 to $7 billon, up from the previous estimate of $6 billion to $6.5 billion.
“This is a customer-driven shift to create a stronger, more resilient and more profitable Ford,” said Jim Farley, Ford CEO, in a statement. “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.”
Adding and subtracting jobs
Ford plans to hire across its factories in Michigan, Tennessee and Ohio as it expands its truck and van lineup, Andrew Frick, president of Ford Blue and Ford Model e strategy, told reporters.
At Rouge Electric Vehicle Center, Ford will update the media on how many new jobs will go there after it restarts production on the new version of the Lightning, Frick said. Ford will share more details about the vehicle and its production and launch timing at a later date.
In October, Ford transferred about 500 employees from its Rouge Electric Vehicle Center to its Dearborn Truck plant to help with increased production of the F-150 pickup. Ford makes its gasoline- and hybrid-powered F-150 at Dearborn Truck Plant and said it will add an extra 45,000 units next year, “enabled by a new third crew of 1,200 employees.”
Ford officially ended production this year of 2025 F-150 Lightning, built at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center, after two fires earlier this fall destroyed part of the Novelis aluminum plant in New York. Novelis supplies Ford with much of the aluminum used in the bodies of its pickups and SUVs. The fire created a shortage of aluminum and caused some production disruptions to the Lightning and Ford SUVs.
On Dec. 15, Ford said the Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center on its BlueOval campus in Stanton, Tennessee near Memphis, is now renamed Tennessee Truck Plant. The facility will produce “all-new Built Ford Tough truck models” with starting in 2029.
Frick declined to provide any details as to what kinds of new pickups these will be, other than to say they are new affordable gas-powered trucks that will broaden Ford’s lineup and extend its market leadership, replacing the previously planned next-generation electric truck.
Ford plans to hire at least 2,300 people in Tennessee to start, he said.
Ford will make Ohio Assembly Plant a central hub for Ford Pro, its commercial vehicle unit. There, Ford will be assembling the new gasoline and hybrid-powered commercial van starting in 2029, alongside Super Duty chassis cabs. Frick said Ford employs 1,700 people in Ohio and he had no update on how many new people Ford plans to hire there.
(This story has been updated to include new information.)
Jamie L. LaReau is the senior autos writer for USA Today Co. who covers Ford Motor Co. for the Detroit Free Press. Contact Jamie at jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. To sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.
