May 18, 2025 - Ford Energy to Supply EDF Power Solutions

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for May 18, 2026, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry. 

The rate of sales growth for electric vehicles may have plateaued in the U.S. market, and automakers have taken tens of billions of dollars in write-downs on their investments in EV development and manufacturing. Despite that, numerous automakers and battery suppliers are finding ways to utilize the infrastructure they've built. Honda recently cancelled all of its North American EV plans, but last week it announced it will launch 15 hybrid vehicles by 2030, and the Ohio battery plant it built with LG will supply hybrid batteries. General Motors is converting some of its battery production capacity in Tennessee for energy storage. 

Ford recently launched its new Ford Energy business unit, which is retooling the Kentucky battery plant that was formerly part of its joint venture with SK On. The plant is switching over from 43 GWh of NMC pouch cells to 20 GWh per year of prismatic lithium iron phosphate cells and assembly of containerized energy storage systems. 

Today, Ford Energy has announced an agreement with EDF Power Solutions.  EDF will acquire up to 4 GWh per year of DC Block energy storage units with deliveries to start in 2028.  Despite the Trump administration's battle to eliminate renewable energy,  solar and wind projects are continuing to grow. In addition, the development of hundreds of enormous data centers to support AI efforts in the next several years provides an enormous market opportunity for suppliers of energy storage systems like Ford Energy, GM, and LG Energy Solution. These data centers need reliable power 24 hours a day, and the U.S. grid doesn't yet have the capacity and reliability in many of the locations where data centers are being located. With Middle East tensions likely to continue for the foreseeable there is a growing push to expand renewables to offset high oil costs. 

The Ford Energy DC block is a 20-foot-long containerized system that contains 5.45 MWh of LFP cells. The management system can provide a 2 or 4 hour discharge configuration and 1,040 to 1,500 volts. Until EV sales really begin to pick up again in future years, this shift to energy storage will allow companies to continue investing in American manufacturing infrastructure.

Thanks for listening.