Ford Plans to Build EVs at Major Canada Plant

Ford Motor Company is investing $1.34 billion to turn its Oakville Assembly Complex in Canada into a high-volume hub for making electric vehicles.

The plant will be renamed Oakville Electric Vehicle Complex and will be modernized in the second quarter of 2024 to prepare for the production of next-generation EVs. This marks the first time an automotive OEM has announced plans to produce passenger electric vehicles in Canada for the North American market.

The investment will allow Ford to repurpose and transform existing buildings into a state-of-the-art facility that uses Ford of Canada's skilled and experienced workforce. The Oakville Electric Vehicle Complex will feature a new on-site battery plant that will use cells and arrays from BlueOval SK Battery Park in Kentucky. Oakville workers will assemble these components into battery packs that will then be installed in vehicles assembled on-site.

Ford is taking a diverse strategic approach to transforming its industrial system to expand EV production: Building new greenfield sites and also transforming manufacturing sites like in Oakville and Cologne, Germany. In addition to the Oakville Electric Vehicle Complex upgrades:

• Ford is creating an all-new electric vehicle manufacturing system in West Tennessee – called BlueOval City – the home of a battery plant and the future home of Ford’s next-generation electric pickup. Together with two battery plants in Kentucky, these sites will create 11,000 new U.S. jobs and expected to begin production in 2025.
• Ford is also building a lithium iron phosphate battery plant in Marshall, Michigan. Production is slated to begin in 2026, with 2,500 employees. Ford is among the first automakers to commit to building both lithium iron phosphate and nickel cobalt manganese batteries in the U.S.
• Ford is also modernizing its vehicle assembly campus in Cologne, Germany, transforming it to become the Ford Cologne Electrification Center – the company’s first EV center of excellence in Europe. This site will be the production home of the electric Ford Explorer for European customers; production begins later this year.
• Ford, LG Energy Solution and Koç Holding have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to build one of the largest commercial electric vehicle battery cell production facilities in the European region. The project is on track to break ground near Ankara, Turkey, later this year, with production to start in 2026.
• Ford this year is expanding production of the F-150 Lightning at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn and the Mustang Mach-E at its Cuautitlan facility in Mexico.

"Ford’s investment in retooling its Oakville plant will support thousands of good paying jobs and is an important milestone in our plan to become a leader in the electric vehicle revolution,” said Premier Doug Ford in a news release. “Together, with our industry and union partners, we’re building up a world class, home grown electric vehicle supply chain, from mining to manufacturing, so that the vehicles of the future are built right here in Ontario, by Ontario workers.”

[Note: This news release was rewritten and edited with the help of ChatGPT]