Ford Motor Co. is going all in on electric vehicles.
The company is investing $7 billion in two large manufacturing facilities for electric vehicles, CNN reported. It's a joint venture, totalling $11.4 billion, with a South Korean energy company, SK Innovations, the story said.
Ford's share is the largest single investment in manufacturing in the history of the 118-year-old company, CNN reported.
Now Ford wants the federal government to step up as well.
"Essentially, we need support to help customers make this transition financially," said Ford CEO Jim Farley. "These are expensive vehicles. We've seen in Europe, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and China, the governments where they put the foot on the economics for the customers switch to these vehicles. We need that support."
Ford has committed to spending $30 billion by 2025 on electric vehicles and is projecting that 40% of its global sales will be fully electric by 2030, the story said.
The two new Ford factories will be located in Kentucky and Tennessee, employing about 11,000 people, CNN said.
Three electric battery plants will be included on the sites along with a factory to build electric pickup trucks, the network reported.
The Tennessee site will be three times larger than the Ford River Rouge complex in Dearborn, CNN said.
The company's all-electric vehicle, the Mustang Mach-E, hit the market last year, with an electric commercial van going on sale later this year. Those will be followed by the Ford F-150 Lightning all-electric truck, next year, CNN said.