Ford launches Ford Energy subsidiary to build 20 GWh of battery storage annually

Ford has officially unveiled Ford Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary that will manufacture and sell U.S.-assembled battery energy storage systems (BESS) for utilities, data centers, and large industrial customers. The new unit plans to produce 20 GWh of energy storage annually from its Kentucky gigafactory.

The move formalizes what has been months in the making — Ford’s pivot from struggling EV battery overcapacity to the booming grid-scale energy storage market, where demand is surging thanks to AI data centers and renewable energy buildout.

From EV battery overcapacity to energy storage play

Ford Energy didn’t come out of nowhere. As we covered in December, Ford announced plans to convert its EV battery plants to make battery storage for data centers after it became clear that demand for EV batteries wasn’t absorbing the capacity Ford had built. That announcement came just days after Ford and SK On killed their massive $11.4 billion BlueOval SK joint venture, splitting their battery factories between the two companies.

Ford Energy President Lisa Drake, who was appointed to lead the new subsidiary in January, said the company has been building quietly toward this launch. In a blog post, she wrote that the team has spent the better part of a year “executing — securing supply chains, readying our manufacturing sites and aligning our technology with the massive demand for domestic energy storage.”