Ford’s next big EV money move: Turning batteries into business
Ford is promising more affordable electric vehicles, but it’s still looking to make a profit. After kicking off production at its new EV battery plant in Kentucky, Ford is already looking for buyers to sell extra batteries.
Is Ford planning to sell EV batteries?
BlueOval SK, Ford’s joint venture with SK On, officially began production at its Glendale, Kentucky, plant on Tuesday.
The batteries will initially be used to power the F-150 Lighting electric pickup. However, Ford has bigger plans for the facility.
During an interview with Bloomberg, BlueOval SK CEO Michael Adams said, “Both of our parents are looking for opportunities for new business.” According to Adams, securing new clients to sell batteries to is “fairly high.”
Potential buyers could involve energy storage businesses or other EV makers, Adams explained. A Bloomberg report earlier this year claimed that Ford’s joint venture was closing in on a deal to sell batteries to Nissan, but no official confirmation has been made.
Ford’s new plans to sell excess batteries comes as it faces slowing EV sales and upcoming policy changes. The company’s EV sales are down nearly 10% through the first seven months of 2025 compared to the same period last year.
With the $7,500 tax credit set to expire at the end of September, the market will get even more competitive from here.
The joint venture has already scaled back plans at the Kentucky facility. Initially, the plant was expected to employ 2,500 workers. Now, it will have 1,450 employees.
Ford is also pausing production at a second plant in Kentucky as part of a broader strategy shift. According to Adams, the third battery plant, in Tennessee, will still begin producing batteries in 2027 despite Ford delaying its next-gen electric pickup until the following year.
Adams said everything is moving slower than expected, adding, “We’re in a monitoring phase and just being conservative in what we do in order to make sure that we’re safe.”
Ford has overhauled its EV strategy with plans to launch smaller, more affordable electric cars. The company is betting on its new “Ford EV Universal Platform” to unlock more affordable electric vehicles while still making a profit.
The first vehicle based on the platform is expected to be a mid-size electric pickup with a starting price around $30,000. Customer deliveries are set to begin in 2027.
Ford will utilize lower-cost lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries, manufactured in Michigan with licensed technology from China’s CATL, to power the new platform.
Electrek’s Take
Like most automakers, Ford is aggressively looking to cut costs to turn a profit on electric vehicles. After its EV business, Model e, lost $5.1 billion last year, Ford is warning that it could lose even more this year due to investments in its next-gen models.
According to Farley, the first model will need to be profitable in its first year on the market. Selling extra batteries could be a new source of revenue for Ford as it looks to turn things around.
Ford isn’t the only automaker that wants to sell EV batteries in the US. Earlier this year, a Nikkei report claimed Toyota would begin selling batteries to power Honda’s hybrid vehicles from its new plant in NC, starting in 2026.
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Solar panel giant Qcells announced today that it’s temporarily furloughing 1,000 US workers – 25% of its workforce – and reducing pay and shifts at its factories in northeast Georgia due to supply chain delays caused by US Customs.
Qcells furloughs 1,000 workers
The supply chain delays are hindering the company’s ability to import components to build its solar panels. This has resulted in Qcells’ two factories in Cartersville and Dalton being unable to operate at full capacity for several months.
Qcells spokeswoman Marta Stoepker shared the following statement in an exclusive with Channel 2 Action News in Atlanta:
The company says the furloughed workers, who were notified this afternoon, will retain full benefits and won’t be laid off. However, Qcells will no longer be using staffing agency employees in Georgia “at this time.”
As Qcells introduced new supply chains to support its growing solar panel manufacturing facilities in Georgia, the company was recently forced to scale back production while our shipments into the US were delayed in the customs clearance process.
Although our supply chain operations are beginning to normalize, today we shared with our employees that HR actions must be taken to improve operational efficiency until production capacity returns to normal levels.
Stoepker said it expects to bring the furloughed workers back “in the coming weeks and months.” She continued:
Our commitment to building the entire solar supply chain in the United States remains. We will soon be back on track with the full force of our Georgia team delivering American-made energy to communities around the country.
Electrek’s Take
In January 2023, the Seoul-headquartered Qcells announced it would invest more than $2.5 billion to build a solar supply chain in Georgia – the largest-ever investment in clean energy manufacturing in the US to date. That included expanding the Dalton solar factory and building a fully integrated solar supply chain factory in Cartersville, Georgia, that will manufacture solar ingots, wafers, cells, and finished panels.
It’s not quite there yet, because that takes time. In the meantime, it’s being penalized by Customs. The US government under Trump says it’s keen on boosting domestic manufacturing. Why would it work against a company that’s onshoring an entire solar supply chain, including recycling?
Dalton and Cartersville employ nearly 4,000 people. Its total output will reach 8.4 GW of solar production capacity per year, which is equivalent to nearly 46,000 panels per day – enough to power approximately 1.3 million homes annually.
It’s ludicrous that it has been forced to furlough a quarter of its workforce due to the ineptness of the Trump administration’s US Customs policies. This is right up there with the ICE arrests at Hyundai’s plant in Georgia. Bravo.
Read more: Georgia gives US solar panel manufacturing a big boost with a new factory
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The breakthrough EV batteries Toyota says will double driving range and cut charging times are facing another setback. The company is once again delaying plans for a new battery plant in Japan.
Why is Toyota delaying its EV battery plant this time?
Earlier this year, Toyota bought a 280,000-square-meter plot of land in Fukuoka, Japan, where it planned to build a plant to produce the more advanced EV batteries.
A location agreement was expected to be signed by April, but Toyota pushed back construction by several months, blaming slower-than-expected demand for electric vehicles.
The agreement was expected to be finalized this Fall, but that will no longer be the case. According to Nikkei, Toyota is delaying the EV battery plant for the second time. Toyota will review and adjust plans over the next year.
Fukuoka governor, Seitaro Hattori, confirmed the news with reporters on Friday following a meeting with Toyota’s president, Koji Sato. Hattori also shut down claims that Toyota was planning to scrap the battery plant altogether.
Toyota again blamed slowing EV demand for the delay. The decision comes despite Keiji Kaita, president of Toyota’s Carbon Neutral Advanced Engineering Development Center, confirming at the Japan Mobility Show just last week that it’s “sticking on the schedule” to introduce its first solid-state battery-powered EV by 2028.
Last month, Toyota said it aimed to “achieve the world’s first practical use of all-solid-state batteries in BEVs” after securing a partnership with Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. to mass-produce them. It’s also working with Japanese oil giant Idemitsu.
The company recently revealed a solid-state battery pack prototype that it claims can deliver 747 miles (1,200 km) range and 10-minute fast charging, but will we ever see it actually in production?
Electrek’s Take
Toyota has been making empty promises about EV batteries for almost a decade now. It initially planned to introduce solid-state EV batteries in 2020, then pushed it to 2023, then 2026, and now it’s saying it will be around 2028.
Mass production is likely closer to the end of the decade, if Toyota doesn’t delay it again. While it’s blaming the slowing demand, global EV sales are still on the rise. According to Rho Motion, global EV sales topped 2 million for the first time in a single month in September 2025. Through the first nine months of the year, EV sales are up 26% compared to the same period in 2024.
Even with the US ending the $7,500 federal tax credit and other policies designed to promote electric vehicles, global adoption will continue building momentum over the next few years.
Is it a demand issue, or is Toyota just looking for another excuse? With rivals like Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, BMW, and Honda advancing next-gen EV batteries, Toyota will only fall further behind if it continues delaying key projects.
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