NASHVILLE, Tennessee (WTVF) – Ford Motor Company’s “Blue Oval City” project in West Tennessee is officially the largest in the state’s history. The automaker plans to add a manufacturing facility that will produce all of Ford’s electric F150s along with an electric car battery factory.
150,000 electric cars have been manufactured in Tennessee in the past eight years alone. If Ford is added to the mix, that number will only grow. But it also begs the question, why are automakers choosing Tennessee?
“It really probably goes back to Nissan,” said Bob Rolfe, Tennessee commissioner for economic and community development, in an interview with NewsChannel 5.
In 2013, the first electric car rolled off the assembly line at the Nissan plant in Smyrna. It was the first spark of an electric revolution in Tennessee.
Since then, Volkswagen in Chattanooga and General Motors in Spring Hill have launched their own locally produced electric models.
But the new Ford assembly plant will be the largest. “This will go down as the largest project in the history of the state of Tennessee,” said Rolfe.
It’s a $ 5.6 million investment that will add 6,000 new jobs to rural Haywood County, and the facility will only manufacture electric vehicles. “Tennessee has attracted more than our fair share of wins, which we’re very excited about,” said Rolfe.
Rolfe credits the Tennessee economy with the power behind this movement. “There is no personal income tax, it’s the business-friendly nature of our state, it’s fiscal responsibility and our balance sheet with the state,” he said.
But he also admits that massive incentives for Ford, paid for with your taxpayers’ money, have definitely done a lot. “500 million percent is a huge incentive for any project,” said Rolfe.
Rolfe argues that it is worth every penny between providing high-paying jobs for generations to the other companies that attract big automakers. “Then you have about a thousand – what I call tier 1, tier 2, tier 3 suppliers – that encompass and support these auto plants. So this is probably our biggest advanced manufacturing driver in the state, ”he said.
With this in mind, Rolfe hopes that this upswing will continue. “We have positioned ourselves to win our fair share of these projects,” said Rolfe.
In the meantime, you will see more EV charging stations in the area. The country plans to add another 50 stations over the next three to five years. This includes charging stations in all 56 state parks.
All in all, that should mean a charge point every 50 miles on the streets of Tennessee.
