BlueOval City

The largest investment in Tennessee history is built, even as its purpose has shifted. Ford’s $5.6 billion BlueOval City campus near Stanton in West Tennessee was conceived as an electric-truck and battery megasite. With construction substantially complete, the plan has changed: Ford now intends to build gas-powered trucks at the renamed Tennessee Truck Plant, while SK On takes over the on-site battery plant.

Project Scope

Walbridge served as general contractor on the sprawling campus, the centerpiece of a roughly $5.6 billion commitment that drew $884 million in state incentives. The battery plant construction is finished, and after Ford and SK On agreed to unwind their joint venture, SK On will own and operate it, supplying Ford under contract and selling cells to other customers, including energy-storage buyers. Ford has pushed truck production to 2029 amid softer EV demand.

Why It Matters

BlueOval City is a case study in how fast the EV build-out has collided with market reality. The buildings are real and the jobs are coming, but the pivot from electric to gas trucks, plus the joint-venture breakup, shows that even the biggest industrial bets get rewritten mid-stream. For the trades who built it, the work was the same. For policymakers who courted it as an EV flagship, the story is more complicated.

Related: a 4.1 billion euro battery gigafactory breaks ground.

Project Team & Details