After Struggling With EVs, US Automakers Pivot to Energy
Key takeaways
- An official announcement from Ford this week that it would officially spin off a subsidiary called Ford Energy only made the trend more pronounced.
- Investors liked the plan so much that the announcement led to a 13 percent jump in stock price, its largest gain in a single day in years.
- It’s a (slight) turn of fortunes for Ford, which took a massive $19.5 billion write-down on its EV programs late last year as it scrapped some current and next-generation EVs in favor of a renewed emphasis on hybrids.
Why this matters: a development in AI with implications for how people work, create, and decide.
Courtesy of Ford Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Automakers make cars—it’s in the name. But lately, politics, current events, and Wall Street’s latest preoccupation, artificial intelligence, have them looking a lot more like energy companies. The pivot, analysts say, could give US auto manufacturers struggling through a transition to electric vehicles an easier path over the next few years. Whether it works will come down to the same technology that automakers once promised would power the majority of their lineups: batteries.
An official announcement from Ford this week that it would officially spin off a subsidiary called Ford Energy only made the trend more pronounced. Ford Energy will focus on battery energy storage systems (BESS) and will sell them to utilities, industrial customers, and data centers. It plans to make its first deliveries in late 2027, the company said. Ford plans to repurpose unused production lines in a plant once slated to manufacture electric vehicle batteries in Glendale, Kentucky.
Investors liked the plan so much that the announcement led to a 13 percent jump in stock price, its largest gain in a single day in years.