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Ford Motor Company He’s been quietly working on a secret side hustle. The automaker on Monday announced the official launch of Ford Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary that will manufacture and sell assembled battery energy storage systems in the U.S. to utilities, large industrial customers and — perhaps most importantly — Data centers. Ford hopes to deploy at least 20 gigawatt-hours of storage capacity annually, with first customer deliveries planned for late 2027.
The axle has been telegraphed since Ford and SK On It killed $11.4 billion BlueOval SK A joint venture last year, the plants were split up and Ford was left with a very large, very underutilized battery plant in Kentucky and a decision to make. Repurposing the Glendale plant to produce grid-scale energy storage is the kind of move that seems obvious in retrospect — although “obvious” and “well-executed” are two different things. Ford has yet to prove it can achieve the latter.
The DC Block is a shipping container-sized battery built around LFP prismatic cells.
Ford DC Power Block
Ford Energy’s flagship product is the DC Block, a modular system in a 20-foot container built around 512-ampere lithium iron phosphate, or LFP, prismatic cells. Two configurations will eventually be offered – the FE-250 (two-hour) and the FE-450 (four-hour) – both providing 5.45 MWh of rated power capacity across a 1,040 to 1,500 volt DC operating range. Ford says it will equip the units with a liquid-cooled thermal management system and a proprietary battery management system. It targets a service life of up to 20 years, with predictable performance and easy serviceability in design.
LFP battery chemistry is often viewed as the budget option for electric vehicles, due to its lower energy density (which means more weight) compared to lithium-ion technology. However, for stationary applications where weight does not matter, the improved thermal stability of LFP’s longer duty cycles makes it a smarter and more economical choice. It’s also free of the cobalt and nickel supply chain issues that have plagued EV battery economics.
Ford Energy’s operations will span the full spectrum, from electrode coil production to module and container assembly, as well as sales and service. That’s an ambitious scope for a subsidiary that came into being just this week.
Ford leans heavily into the local manufacturing corner, and for good reason. Battery projects that qualify for the investment tax credit and meet local content requirements are more attractive to utility and data center builders navigating today’s uncertain policy environment. The Kentucky plant, well-positioned to reach the ITC thresholds, could be the secret sauce Ford needs to succeed.
Ford, struggling with lower-than-expected electric vehicle sales, is turning to battery energy storage and power demand in data centers to make up for the shortfall in its spare battery manufacturing capacity. Where have I heard that before?
The market is large, but the competition is greater
There are strong winds behind large-scale energy projects that Ford will benefit from. The United States is expected to add 24 gigawatts of capacity New large-scale battery storage in 2026 – nearly double the record 15 GW installed in 2025 – with industry forecasts suggesting more than 600 GWh on the US grid by 2030. AI data center construction is increasing electricity demand at a pace that is straining grid infrastructure. Battery storage, which can act as a buffer between spikes in demand and the grid, has become critical for large energy consumers.
Switching to backup data centers is a move that may not be very popular among those of us who feel the pressure that data centers have placed on everything from Computer memory and Energy prices to Water supply available. Ford is capitalizing on demand, which, quite frankly, means eating the grid alive. However, from a business perspective, the Kentucky Gigafactory conversion is a smart reuse of assets, especially in light of… Sales of Ford electric cars decline.
Ford’s annual target of 20 gigawatt hours would be serious capacity if the auto and battery maker hits its targets. Meanwhile, that’s less than half of what Tesla plans to produce from its giant Houston Megapack factory alone. Tesla deployed 46.7 gigawatt hours for energy storage in 2025, and Megapack 3 – a promising 5 MWh per unit with production starting later this year – is the product the industry will measure. Ford is entering a market where the competition has years of operational scale, a mature software portfolio and customer relationships that have taken a long time to build.
However, the market is large enough that a reliable second supplier and local manufacturing credentials is not a ridiculous proposition. Ford will need more than just a good spec sheet; It takes time to build service infrastructure, software, and business relationships, and the window won’t stay open forever. Then again, this wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen Ford Facing the impossible challenge And he surprised us.