Ford has announced a $1.3 billion (1.8 billion Canadian dollar) investment in Ontario’s Oakville Assembly Complex to turn it into a Canadian hub for electric vehicle manufacturing.
The plant will manufacture electric vehicles and battery packs on a new campus known as the Oakville Electric Vehicle Complex. Ford says it will adapt existing buildings into a cutting-edge facility that will take use of Oakville’s skilled workforce.
The facility will be retooled and transformed into a high-volume manufacturing hub for North American EVs in the second quarter of 2024, with production of next-generation electric cars beginning in 2025.
Ford did not provide any details about the EV models it intends to produce in Oakville, although the plant already employs 3,000 people and produces the Ford Edge and Lincoln Nautilus mid-size SUVs.
Ford claims to be the only full-line carmaker dedicated to manufacturing passenger EVs in Canada for the North American market. We’re not convinced because Stellantis also confirmed last year that it will manufacture passenger EVs in Windsor, Ontario, based on the STLA Large platform.
“Canada and the Oakville complex will play a vital role in our Ford+ transformation. It will be a modern, super-efficient, vertically integrated site for battery and vehicle assembly. I’m most excited for the world to see the incredible next-generation electric and fully digitally connected vehicles produced in Oakville.” said Ford president and CEO, Jim Farley.
There are currently three body shops, one paint building, and one assembly building on the 487-acre Oakville site. Ford will transform the campus by adding a brand-new on-site battery plant that is 407,000 square feet in size and retooling the three body shops into one.
Cells and arrays from Kentucky’s BlueOval SK Battery Park will be used at the battery site. These components will be assembled at Oakville by workers, who will then install them in on-site vehicles.
The automaker claims that in order to expand EV production, it is transforming both existing manufacturing facilities in Oakville and Cologne, Germany, as well as building new greenfield sites like BlueOval City in Tennessee.
Ford’s statement about Oakville is the latest in a series of large industrial investments in North America. The BlueOval City complex in West Tennessee, two battery factories in Kentucky created in conjunction with SK On, and a lithium iron phosphate battery factory in Michigan built with CATL technology are among them.
Furthermore, Ford is renovating its car assembly plant in Cologne, Germany, converting it into the Ford Cologne Electrification Center, which will manufacture the electric Explorer SUV for Europe.
Finally, Ford, LG Energy Solution, and Koç Holding have agreed to develop one of Europe’s largest commercial electric car battery cell production plants near Ankara, Turkey. Ford will invest $50 billion in electric vehicles globally until 2026.
