The automaker’s new Ford Energy subsidiary will build grid-scale battery systems using Chinese CATL technology, with first deliveries in late 2027 and a five-year deal with EDF already signed.
Ford has launched Ford Energy, a $2 billion subsidiary that will manufacture grid-scale battery storage systems for data centres and utilities using CATL-licensed LFP technology at a repurposed Kentucky plant. It has already signed a five-year deal with EDF Power Solutions for up to 20 GWh.TL;DR
Ford has launched Ford Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary that will manufacture large-scale battery energy storage systems for utilities, data centres, and industrial customers. The company has committed roughly $2 billion to the operation, which repurposes a Kentucky plant originally built for electric vehicle batteries.
The subsidiary is led by Lisa Drake, who reports directly to Ford vice chair John Lawler. It marks the clearest signal yet that Detroit’s legacy automakers see more immediate profit in powering the AI infrastructure boom than in making the cars that were supposed to justify their battery investments.
The flagship product is the DC Block, a standardised 20-foot containerised storage system built around 512-amp-hour lithium iron phosphate (LFP) prismatic cells. Each unit is rated at 5.45 megawatt-hours, and the technology is licensed from CATL, the Chinese battery giant that dominates global cell production.
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Ford will manufacture the systems at its Glendale, Kentucky facility, which it is converting after scaling back EV production plans and dissolving its BlueOval joint venture with SK On. The company assumed a $3.8 billion Department of Energy loan tied to the plant as part of the restructuring.
First customer deliveries are targeted for late 2027, with annual output set to reach a minimum of 20 gigawatt-hours. Ford is not alone in seeing this opportunity, as General Motors announced its own push into grid-scale energy storage earlier this year.
Seven days after the formal launch on 11 May, Ford Energy signed its first commercial deal, a five-year framework agreement with EDF Power Solutions North America for up to 4 GWh of battery storage annually. The contract totals up to 20 GWh over its full term, with deliveries expected to begin in 2028.
Morgan Stanley analysts have reportedly valued the energy storage business at up to $10 billion as a standalone unit. That figure remains speculative, as Ford Energy has not yet shipped a single system, but it reflects the scale of demand that data centre operators and grid operators are projecting over the next decade.
Ford’s share price surged roughly 20 per cent in the 48 hours following the Ford Energy announcement, climbing from under $14 to a multi-year high above $17. It has since retreated to around $14, erasing most of the gain.
CNBC’s Jim Cramer said on 17 June that he believes Ford can become “a real player in the battery storage space,” though he cautioned that the business will not meaningfully affect earnings for several years. He added that at around $14, the stock looks more attractive than it did during the spike.
The CATL licensing arrangement has drawn scrutiny. CATL appears on a Pentagon list of companies with alleged ties to China’s military, and critics have questioned whether a US-assembled product built on Chinese battery technology qualifies as domestic manufacturing under federal procurement rules.
Ford has said the systems will be assembled entirely in the United States. CATL has disputed the Pentagon designation.
Whether Ford Energy can scale fast enough to matter alongside the automaker’s still-struggling EV division remains an open question. But the pivot from making car batteries to making grid batteries is a bet that the energy storage market will grow faster than the electric vehicle market, at least for now.
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