Ford has confirmed that its second-generation electric truck, currently code named Project T3, will be built at the new BlueOval City in West Tennessee. Today, the American automaker shared more details and images of the mega-campus, saying it is on track to begin production in 2025. At full production, the electric vehicle and battery manufacturing facility will be capable of producing 500,000 EV trucks a year. In total, Ford and partner SK On are investing $5.6 billion in the campus that will ultimately add 6,000 new jobs to the area.
To prepare all those new future employees, Ford has launched BlueOval Learning, a training program that includes K-12 STEM programs, post-secondary education partnerships, and technical training. Also part of BlueOval Learning is BlueOval City TCAT, a state-of-the-art training center that is a $40-million investment by the State of Tennessee and created with the Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology. It will be used as a hub for education resources and best-in-class training programs, as Ford continues to invest into an EV future in America.
Perhaps the most exciting part of today’s announcement is the confirmation that Project T3 is in development. The second-generation EV truck is being developed in tandem with the new assembly plant. If you’re wondering what its code name means, T3 is short for “Trust The Truck,” what the development team is using as a single guiding principle: it wants to create a truck people can trust in the digital age. That means it can be fully updatable so that it’s constantly improving and supports towing, hauling, exportable power, and all the endless new innovations that owners want. This also means we will likely see the next-generation Ford F-150 Lightning in production sometime in 2025.
The mega-campus will cover 3,600 acres and will feature a fully integrated BlueOval SK battery manufacturing site. This allows Ford to build battery cells and arrays, as well as assemble battery packs for the assembly plant on-site. That assembly plant will use carbon-free electricity from the day it opens, and Ford aspires to use no freshwater for its assembly processes. BlueOval City is a huge step forward for Ford, as it intends to power all of its plants globally with renewable and carbon-free electricity by 2035.
“Project T3 is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to revolutionize America’s truck. We are melding 100 years of Ford truck know – how with world – class electric vehicle, software and aerodynamics talent. It will be a platform for endless innovation and capability,” said Jim Farley, Ford president and CEO.
