Ford investing $5.6 billion to build its largest, most advanced factory ever

As Ford takes initiatives to make a shift towards an electric future, the automaker is investing $5.6 billion to build its largest and most advanced manufacturing facility ever in western Tennessee or the BlueOval City. Expected to start operations in 2025, the factory will play a vital role in the company's electric endeavors. The factory will build EV batteries and an all-new electric truck.

The preliminary work for the automaker's most advanced factory started in March, preparing a sizable chunk of land for the massive construction project. This involved work on 4.6 million cubic yards of soil and laying 370,000 tons of stone. The entire facility, once built, will span six square miles of land. "We are building the future right here in West Tennessee," said Eric Grubb, Ford’s director of new footprint construction.

The upcoming facility will act as the blueprint for Ford’s future manufacturing facilities. The mega facility will also create approximately 6,000 new jobs when production begins in 2025. The facility is also getting Ford closer to its target of two million EV production run rate globally by late 2026.

At the BlueOval City, so far, crews have moved more than 4.6 million cubic yards of soil while nearly 370,000 tons of stone have been laid and more than 4,600 deep foundations installed, totaling the height of approximately 176 Eiffel Towers when put end to end.

Coming to the new Ford electric truck that will be built at the new facility, Ford hasn't given out much details. Ford CEO Jim Farley had offered the first clue on this next-gen truck, teasing something "different than this one" at the launch of F-150 Lightning production in April.

In a separate development, Ford had to delay the delivery of certain vehicles because it didn’t have enough of its distinctive Blue Oval badges to put on them. Also, the automaker is struggling to find enough nameplate badges for its different models.