5 days ago
Trump or not, Ford is making EVs
The Trump administration is wiping out the tax breaks and pollution rules that pushed automakers to produce electric vehicles.
But will American companies still make them? The answer at Ford appears to be yes.
Ford CEO Jim Farley laid out a continued road map for electric vehicles during an impassioned address Monday at the company's plant in Louisville, Kentucky. It called for offering a $30,000 electric truck by 2027 — dramatically cheaper than past offerings such as the $54,000-and-up F-150 Lightning.
The automaker will invest $2 billion to make them at the Kentucky plant. It expects to turn a profit within a year.
'We needed a radical approach … to create an affordable vehicle that delights customers in every way that matters, design and innovation, flexibility, interior space, driving pleasure and lower cost of ownership,' he said. 'But we need to do it and be sustainable and make money, and we need to do it with American workers.'
Under the driver's feet will lie a lithium-iron-phosphate battery made at Ford's new battery factory in Michigan. LFP batteries, as they're known, are less expensive than other chemistries and free of some of the minerals that bind American EVs to China's supply chains, though Ford still plans to license Chinese tech.
Tuning out TrumpPerhaps most importantly, Ford sees this as just the first model to emerge from a new 'Universal EV Production System' that breaks the traditional assembly line into pieces and reduces parts, weight and cost.
Taken together, it's a sign that Ford is tuning out the federal government and focused on competing with China, which leads the world in EV production.
'They're feeling increasingly comfortable telling the public and investors that regardless of what happens in Washington, they are moving toward the electric future, because that is where the rest of the world is going,' said Nick Nigro, who runs Atlas Public Policy, which analyzes EV markets.
Not that it will be easy.
'We're doing so many new things, I can't tell you with 100 percent certainty that this will all go just right,' Farley said Monday.
Analysts doubt that Ford can deliver at its price point, on time, and also make EV that are competitive in global markets. U.S. wages are high, and so are battery costs. 'It seems a little optimistic,' said Stephanie Brinley, an auto analyst at S&P Global Mobility.
Even if Ford executes well, the larger auto industry has spent years in a time of gobsmacking changes, from pandemic-era chip shortages to the Ukraine war to President Donald Trump's tariffs. There's no reason to think the pace of change will slow.
'Two years, sadly, is an eternity,' said Karl Brauer, a longtime auto analyst at an auto sales site.
However, even two years might be too long.
'Around the timeline, I don't think they have a choice,' Nigro said. 'They have to buckle down and deliver.'
It's Tuesday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, David Ferris. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to dferris@
Today in POLITICO Energy's podcast: Jordan Wolman breaks down the complicated politics of data centers.
Power Centers
Sierra Club ousts its leaderThe Sierra Club fired Executive Director Ben Jealous on Monday after two turbulent years marked by infighting and drama, Robin Bravender reports.
Staffers said they hope the organization will refocus on its mission to protect the environment and battle efforts in Washington to dismantle environmental protections.
Sierra Club's board 'unanimously voted to terminate Ben Jealous' employment for cause,' Patrick Murphy, president of the Sierra Club board of directors, told staff Monday evening in an email first reported by POLITICO's E&E News. He did not specify the cause but added, 'This was not a decision we took lightly.'
'It is disheartening, unfortunate, but perhaps not surprising that the board has chosen an adversarial course that the facts so clearly cannot support,' Jealous said Tuesday in a statement.
Jealous has retained attorneys to fight the decision. Jealous' defenders contend he was unfairly scrutinized for decisions like layoffs and restructuring in an effort to plug a $40 million deficit, saying he faced double standards because he is Black, Zack Colman writes.
But a union representing Sierra Club employees rejected that notion that the criticism of Jealous was influenced by his race. So did a group representing union members who identify as Black, Indigenous or people of color.
Save the eaglesThe Fish and Wildlife Service is surveying wind developers about their projects' effects on eagles, Ian M. Stevenson, Michael Doyle and Benjamin Storrow write.
A Friday letter from Jennifer Miller, acting chief of the migratory bird program, requested records about accidental eagle death permits. Fish and Wildlife is part of the Interior Department, which has taken steps since mid-July aimed at slowing the growth of wind power on public land.
'The concern is that the administration might use the data it collects to serve a narrative against the industry and individual projects,' said Benjamin Cowan, a partner at the Troutman Pepper Locke law firm.
Ørsted appeals to shareholdersThe world's largest wind developer unveiled a novel plan Monday to keep cash flowing to its beleaguered Sunrise Wind offshore project in New York, Benjamin Storrow writes.
Ørsted has raised money by selling a portion of its projects to another energy company, a bank or some other third party. But that market dried up after Trump stopped work on a rival project. Now, the company is aiming to raise $9.4 billion by inviting existing shareholders to take a bigger stake in the company.
The company stressed that Sunrise Wind is on track, but investors seemed less certain, with Ørsted shares plunging almost 30 percent Monday.
In Other News
Hot topic: The politics of air conditioning are heating up in France as summers get hotter in Europe.
Backup plan: A pilot project in New York City connects residential air conditioning units to batteries during times of high electricity usage.
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U.S. energy forecasters on Tuesday said they expect crude oil prices to slide below $60 a barrel this year and lowered the forecast for U.S. oil production in 2026. Price declines threaten to reverse a nearly uninterrupted growth in U.S. production over the past nine years.
Opponents of nickel and copper mining near Minnesota's pristine Boundary Waters are pressing Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and state lawmakers to put up a firewall against Trump administration mining policies.
Exxon Mobil filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to take up climate damage cases against the fossil fuel industry.
House Democrats are calling on EPA to reinstate dozens of employees who raised alarm about the agency's direction under Trump.
That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.
