Ford shifts gears to build batteries for datacenters

Automotive giant Ford has decided to start a business building big batteries, in part to cash in on the datacenter construction boom.

The company announced its plan on Monday, saying it will repurpose “underutilized electric vehicle battery capacity” at a Kentucky plant “to capture the large demand for battery energy storage from data centers and infrastructure to support the electric grid.”

“Ford plans to produce LFP [lithium iron phosphate] prismatic cells, battery energy storage system modules and 20-foot DC container systems at this facility,” the company’s announcement [PDF] states. “These systems are at the heart of the energy storage solution market for data centers, utilities, and large-scale industrial and commercial customers.”

Another Ford initiative will see the company create smaller batteries for residential energy storage.

Ford’s moves come after it decided to end production of the all-electric version of its iconic F-150 pickup truck, the Lightning. Its replacement ...