Ford announces giant new electric pickup truck factory plus three new battery gigafactories

[Ogre]

2. Doesn't Ford have a massive amount of existing factories? You know, the ones producing ICE vehicles currently, that are going to have constant production slow-downs into the sunset! What are their grand plans for all those workers and those factories?

This is the fundamental problem Ford/ GM/ VW have. If they make a super-popular, competitive EV, they make little to no profit and they are cannibalizing their own profitable ICE sales.

Who is the most likely Ford Lightning customer? An existing Ford F150 owner.

If Ford sells an F150 Lightning, they've just lost a profit making sale of an ICE vehicle.

Yeah we lose a little on every sale. We'll make up for it in volume.

 

[Klaxon]

It's easy to be cynical... it's my default mode!

YEP, I'm cynical!

No-o-o, guys. No no no!
If you are here and believe in Musk's big ideas you are only half cynical and will be paid for the part time job.

 

[GnarlyDudeLive]

I think the tough thing for the legacy automotive industry is going to be trying to say "we are all in on EV's". This can create a real perceived issue of how do they stay in business while making the transition. How do they continue sell ICE vehicles that they need to sell but no longer plan to sell in the future. Consumers at some point in the very near future are going to be reluctant to by an new ICE vehicle they know will no longer be produced. While there will always be nostalgia hold outs, will that be enough to keep the doors open? Bad place to have put themselves into.

 

[electricAK]

Man I hate to join in on the cynicism, but reading these plans and the production numbers has me shaking my head. They're just so far behind Tesla. I applaud Ford for making this investment, but it all just seems wayyyyy late. By the time these factories come online in 2025, and produce 160,000 lightnings/year, Tesla will be producing 2.3 million EV's per year.
https://www.businessinsider.com/tes... in 2025,profits that year, analysts estimate.

 

[Ogre]

By the time these factories come online in 2025, and produce 160,000 lightnings/year, Tesla will be producing 2.3 million EV's per year.

That sounds conservative.

Their current capacity is a touch over 1m/ year now. Giga Shanghai, Tera Texas, and Giga Berlin are supposed to be capable of producing 1m vehicles a year each eventually. Given current demand trends that seems attainable well before 2025. Add in the 650k from Fremont, and we're looking at roughly 3.5m vehicles/ year which should be online by 2025, and that's with no additional facilities.

Musk sees Tesla's total capacity being 20m by 2030, to hit that, they have to be closer to 5m/ year by 2025 to hit that goal.

 

[Quicksilver]

This guy is one of the people I follow on YouTube.
He convinced me I should buy stock in Tesla. Wish I had bought it five years ago.
Here is his forecast for the growth of Tesla and their stock for the next ten years,

 

[Quicksilver]

What? No. Tesla needs all the facilities it can have.

And you're just not going to find as well educated and healthy work force as in California.

-Crissa

I beg to differ with you on a well educated and healthy workforce not being available.
Volkswagon near Chattanooga (other end of the state) has no problem getting young, healthy workers.
Most state vocational schools work with major manufacturing companies with training programs tailored to specific needs.
I have a degree in Machine Tool Technology from Gadsden State Technical College.
Honda, Mercedes, Hyundai, Kia and Toyota all recruit from there.
Other industries recruit people to work supplying the factories with parts.
Most of the kids I went to school with wanted a good paying job as a machinist or welder.
Others were training on robotics and production line skills.
Our factories are mostly non-union and pay well above scale for those talents.
I'm sure it is the same in Tennessee.
The cost of living is also a lot lower in of Tennessee than it is in other parts of the country.
The pay in the South may not be as high but it goes a lot farther.
Not sure how much gas costs in your neck of the woods but I filled up for 2.75 a gallon today.
There is a three bedroom, two bath house with an acre of land near me for 109K which is higher than it was last year. This is rural property out of the noise and bustle of town.
There are also a lot of displaced workers from the surrounding states that will move in to take good jobs.
If Ford builds this plant I don't think they will have any problem getting workers.

 

[Ogre]

When talking about their investment in this plant, the CEO Ford compared this to the iPhone...

"I like to think of these products kind of like flip phones going to the iPhone. We're kind of going through the same phase. It's not just the battery in the iPhone, it's all the cameras and the embedded technology that's going to change the experience for customers, not just that it's powered by electrons," Farley told TheStreet.

He does realize that his company is making the auto version of the flip phone right? And that nearly all of the major flip phone makers have gone belly up or been acquired for pennies on the dollar right?

Blackberry, Nokia, Motorola, Microsoft, Sony, Erikson.... all of them had phone businesses worth 10s of billions and are either bit players in the Android world or have just outright lost their entire phone empire.

https://www.thestreet.com/investing/f150-lightning-ford-iphone-moment-ceo-farley-says

Maybe he is starting to understand how F*d they are. (F*d stands for Ford if you were wondering)

 

[Sirfun]

When talking about their investment in this plant, the CEO Ford compared this to the iPhone...



He does realize that his company is making the auto version of the flip phone right? And that nearly all of the major flip phone makers have gone belly up or been acquired for pennies on the dollar right?

Blackberry, Nokia, Motorola, Microsoft, Sony, Erikson.... all of them had phone businesses worth 10s of billions and are either bit players in the Android world or have just outright lost their entire phone empire.

https://www.thestreet.com/investing/f150-lightning-ford-iphone-moment-ceo-farley-says

Maybe he is starting to understand how F*d they are. (F*d stands for Ford if you were wondering)

So Farley is comparing himself to Steve Jobs, and Ford is an innovative company that takes risky new ideas for products and takes them to market. Yeah, just like Apple. Ford is reinventing itself!
hahahaha, That's hilarious!

 

[Ogre]

So Farley is comparing himself to Steve Jobs, and Ford is an innovative company that takes risky new ideas for products and takes them to market. Yeah, just like Apple. Ford is reinventing itself!
hahahaha, That's hilarious!

In order to be Steve Jobs, Ford would need to be in charge of the company creating the disruption, not one of the ones being disrupted.

Here's Farley talking about BEVs back when Tesla was launching the Model S

“What’s different about Ford is the democratization of the technology,” said Jim Farley, Ford’s group vice president of Marketing, Sales and Service. “It’s not a science project for a few people.”

Oops... maybe not Steve Jobs.