HAYWOOD COUNTY, Tenn. (WTVF) — For our friends out in West Tennessee, it's unsettling news. The massive Ford campus, that has been dubbed "Blue Oval City," is delaying their launch of a new all-electric truck by 18 months.
The new manufacturing complex, along with a BlueOval SK joint venture battery plant, is supposed to provide 6,000 jobs on site, and help produce half a million Ford all-electric pickup trucks each year. Last month, Ford officially tapped the brakes on the West Tennessee plant. Instead of beginning production next year, that won't happen now until late 2027.
"Ford is retiming the launch of its groundbreaking electric truck code-named “Project T3” to the second half of 2027. Taking all the learnings from F-150 Lightning customers, the truck will offer features and experiences never seen on any Ford truck, including upgraded bi-directional charging capability and advanced aerodynamics. The truck will be assembled at BlueOval City’s Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center," Ford said in a news release. "Retiming the launch allows the company to utilize lower-cost battery technology and take advantage of other cost breakthroughs while the market continues to develop."
Industry experts say, it's not that electric vehicle sales are going down. They're just growing way less quickly than the market anticipated. The uncertainty becomes if the growth rate will remain low or increase over time.
The Ford Motor Company and state leaders still insist, it's just a delay and the project will continue to completion.
The Haywood County Mayor, David Livingston, says the project is simply too far along and too big to fail. He says the plant is within two months of being completed and Ford has invested too much in this to step away now. He also says there are seven other automotive parts plants connected to this project with contractual obligations.
You do have to wonder though, what happens if it does fall through?
Hemlock Semiconductor
If you look back into the NewsChannel 5 archive, something similar has happened before. Hemlock Semiconductor announced a Clarksville-based plant to great fanfare. Watch the old footage in the player above.
"It’s my understanding, this investment could be the single largest investment for the state of Tennessee ever, for an industry," said then-Clarksville Mayor Johnny Piper in a 2008 interview.
"This is a really big win for the state," said then-Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen on the same 2008 day.
The Hemlock plant was supposed to employee up to 1,400 people to create polysilicon, a key component for making solar panels. Community leaders broke ground and even added an Associates Degree at Austin Peay State University to train future workers, but ultimately the plant would never fully open. Unforeseen market conditions crashed the polysilicon market.
"We were both surprised and disappointed to get the announcement from them," said then-Gov. Bill Haslam in 2014.
Hemlock was offered nearly $400 million in incentives from taxpayers. They never received some of that money because they never opened. Still, the state of Tennessee still paid nearly $100 million. State lawmakers were furious. So they passed a law requiring future "clawbacks" for companies, or ways for the state to get their money back if a project goes belly up.
Ford Clawbacks
In the Ford deal, the state has protections to get most of its money back, except for any construction grants and site improvements. The state provided Ford $138.2 million for infrastructure work, structure demolition, and more. The hope is, that if the Ford project ever failed, a future company could benefit from building the framework for the massive plant.
Overall, Ford is receiving $884 million, including a $500 million grant. To obtain the rest of that money, Ford will have to meet certain benchmarks when it comes to the number of jobs and how well they are paid.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at Chris.Davis@NewsChannel5.com.
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