Ford Motor Firm has been quietly engaged on a secret aspect hustle. The automaker introduced Monday the formal launch of Ford Power, a completely owned subsidiary that may manufacture and promote US-assembled battery power storage techniques for utilities, giant industrial clients and — maybe most significantly — information facilities. Ford hopes to deploy a minimum of 20GWh of storage capability yearly, with the primary buyer deliveries deliberate for late 2027.
The pivot has been telegraphed since Ford and SK On killed their $11.4 billion BlueOval SK three way partnership final 12 months, splitting the factories and leaving Ford with a really giant, very underutilized Kentucky battery plant and a call to make. Repurposing that Glendale plant for grid-scale power storage manufacturing is the type of transfer that appears apparent looking back — although “apparent” and “well-executed” are various things. Ford nonetheless has to show it is able to the latter.
The DC Block is a delivery container-sized battery constructed round LFP prismatic cells.
The Ford Power DC Block
Ford Power’s flagship product is the DC Block, a standardized 20-foot containerized system constructed round 512Ah lithium iron phosphate, or LFP, prismatic cells. Two configurations will finally be supplied — the FE-250 (two-hour length) and the FE-450 (four-hour) — each delivering 5.45MWh of rated power capability throughout a 1,040- to 1,500-volt DC working vary. Ford says it will outfit the items with liquid-cooled thermal administration and a proprietary battery administration system. It is focusing on a 20-year service life, with predictable efficiency and ease of servicing baked into the design.Â
LFP battery chemistry is usually considered the funds selection for EVs, resulting from its decrease power density (which suggests elevated weight) in comparison with lithium-ion tech. Nevertheless, for stationary functions the place weight would not matter, LFP’s improved thermal stability and longer obligation cycles make it a better, extra economical selection. It is also free from the cobalt and nickel provide chain complications which have plagued EV battery economics.
Ford Power’s operations will span the complete stack, from electrode coil manufacturing via module and container meeting, plus gross sales and repair. That is an bold scope for a subsidiary that solely popped into existence this week.
Ford is leaning exhausting into the home manufacturing angle, and for good cause. Battery tasks that qualify for the Funding Tax Credit score and meet domestic-content necessities are extra enticing to utility and information middle builders navigating at present’s unsure coverage setting. The Kentucky plant, which is well-positioned to hit these ITC thresholds, could possibly be the key sauce Ford must succeed.
Ford, battling lower-than-expected EV gross sales, shifts to battery power storage and information middle power demand to take up the slack in its surplus battery manufacturing capability. The place have I heard that earlier than?
The market is massive, however competitors is larger
There is a sturdy tailwind behind large-scale power tasks that Ford stands to learn from. The US is projected so as to add 24 gigawatts of new utility-scale battery storage in 2026 — almost double the file 15GW put in in 2025 — with trade forecasts pointing to over 600GWh on the US grid by 2030. AI information middle buildout is driving this electrical energy demand at a tempo that is straining grid infrastructure. Battery storage, which might act as a buffer between spikes in demand and the grid, is changing into crucial for big energy shoppers.Â
Shifting to supporting information facilities is a transfer that will not be tremendous well-liked amongst these of us feeling the strain that information facilities have positioned on the whole lot from pc reminiscence and power costs to the out there water provide. Ford is capitalizing on demand that’s, fairly frankly, consuming the grid alive. Nevertheless, from a enterprise standpoint, the Kentucky gigafactory conversion is intelligent asset reuse, particularly given the stoop in Ford’s EV gross sales.
Ford’s 20GWh annual goal would quantity to critical capability ought to the automaker-cum-battery-builder hit its objectives. On the similar time, that is lower than half what Tesla plans to supply from its Houston Megapack gigafactory alone. Tesla deployed 46.7GWh of power storage in 2025, and its Megapack 3Â — promising 5MWh per unit with quantity manufacturing beginning later this 12 months — is the product the trade will benchmark in opposition to. Ford is coming into a market the place the competitors has years of operational scale, a mature software program stack and buyer relationships that took time to construct.
Nonetheless, the market is giant sufficient {that a} credible second provider with home manufacturing credentials is not an absurd proposition. Ford will want greater than a great spec sheet; service infrastructure, software program and industrial relationships take time to construct, and the window is not staying open without end. Then once more, this would not be the primary time we have seen Ford tackle an unattainable problem and shock us.
