Ford Motor Co. plans to take a big financial hit for reworking its EV portfolio, but emphasized the moves are guided by customers’ preferences for more affordable products and a wider selection of vehicle choices. The shift to its new Universal EV Platform was announced in August, and now the automaker has reported it will absorb a $19.5-billion charge in Q4 2025 and through 2026 as it redirects its corporate EV strategy.
While committing to continue offering internal-combustion engine vehicles, it is planning a selection of hybrid vehicles, extended-range EVs (EREV), and electric vehicles to comprise 50% of its global volume by 2030, up from 17% currently.
“This is a customer-driven shift to create a stronger, more resilient and more profitable Ford,” stated Ford president and CEO Jim Farley. “The operating reality has changed, and we are redeploying capital into higher-return growth opportunities: Ford Pro” - a comprehensive commercial fleet product and services business unit – “our market-leading trucks and vans; hybrids; and high-margin opportunities like our new battery-energy storage business.”
One immediate consequence of the change is that the current F-150 Lightning has been discontinued. A new F-150 Lightning will be more of a hybrid concept - a pickup based on EREV technology, with an electric powertrain but also a gas-powered generator to charge the battery. This new model is expected to have a range of 700 miles.
Ford has not announced the launch date for the new EREV F-150 Lightning.
The gas-fueled F-150 remains the North America’s best-selling pickup truck, and the launch of the all-electric F-150 Lightning in 2022 continued that success. F-150 Lightning sales started strong and grew significantly to over 33,000 units sold in 2024.
Sales decelerated this year, and Ford steadily cut production until discontinuing the model this month.
The wider EV market is going is being revamped as OEMs aim to offer more affordable options and newer EV and hybrid fuel alternatives.
Ford introduced its Universal EV Platform earlier this year, intending it to be a more modular and affordable approach to producing electric vehicles. It incorporates a structural battery pack with the LFP (lithium iron phosphate) technology installed in a unicast structure, with fewer and larger electronic control units plus reduced wiring, to simplify production and reduce overall delivery cost.
The first vehicle from the Universal EV Platform will be a midsize pickup truck assembled at Louisville Assembly Plant starting in 2027.
Ford’s new EV approach will impact its U.S. manufacturing structure. The end of production for the all-electric F-150 Lightning in Dearborn, Mich., results in work crews being reassigned to the Dearborn Truck Plant, as a third shift for production of F-150 gas and hybrid trucks.
The Universal EV Platform will create or secure 4,000 jobs at Louisville, Ky., and at the BlueOval Battery Park in Michigan, where the new vehicles’ LFP batteries will be assembled. Earlier, the automaker committed $3 billion to that project.
The automaker cancelled a planned electric commercial van product in favor of a “new, affordable commercial van” in gas and hybrid variants, which will be produced at the (Avon Lake) Ohio Assembly Plant starting in 2029.
Ford also announced the launch of a new battery energy storage system, aimed at serving demand from data centers and infrastructure to support the electric grid. It will repurpose existing battery manufacturing capacity, and will convert a Glendale, Ky., battery plant to manufacture more than 5 MWh of battery energy-storage systems, including LFP prismatic cells, battery energy-storage system modules, and 20-ft DC container systems.
About the Author
Robert Brooks
Content Director
Robert Brooks has been a business-to-business reporter, writer, editor, and columnist for more than 20 years, specializing in the primary metal and basic manufacturing industries.