Ford booked a $19.5B charge to retreat from big EVs after $12B in losses

Ford once aspired to surpass Tesla in battery-electric sales, and the F-150 Lightning — an electric version of its bestselling truck — was supposed to be the vehicle that took America there. Instead, high prices, a heavy battery, and range and towing concerns kept the Lightning from breaking through with the truck buyers it was built for. Over the past two years Ford's EV division, Model e, lost over $12 billion, and EV sales fell more than 60% in November 2025 alone.

On December 15, 2025 Ford announced the retreat: hybrids, EREVs and smaller affordable EVs are to reach 50% of global volume by 2030, versus 17% today, with the hybrid-and-EV business expected profitable by 2029. 'Rather than spending billions more on large EVs that now have no path to profitability, we are allocating that money into higher returning areas — more trucks and vans, hybrid, EREVs, affordable EVs, and entirely new opportunities like energy storage,' said Andrew Frick, president of Model e and Ford Blue. A 700-mile EREV F-150 replaces the first-generation Lightning.

The retreat is expensive. Ford expects a $19.5 billion charge in 2025, mostly in the fourth quarter, plus $5.5 billion in cash effects largely paid in 2026 and 2027. It is dissolving its battery partnership with South Korea's SK On, taking full ownership of the BlueOval SK plant in Kentucky and repurposing it to build energy storage systems for AI data centers. At least 1,600 employees will lose their jobs, though Frick said up to 2,100 could be added over time.

$19.5 billion charge in 2025 plus $5.5 billion in cash effects through 2027; at least 1,600 jobs as the SK On battery partnership dissolves

Ford set out to outsell Tesla in battery-electric sales just as material costs climbed and US demand cooled.

The F-150 Lightning's price, weight and towing range failed the exact truck buyers it was meant to convert.

By Ford's own account the large EVs it kept building had 'no path to profitability', yet the capacity kept growing.

Each year of hesitation compounded the losses — $12 billion across two years before the write-off arrived.

Aspiration is not demand. A goal to outsell Tesla made sense until materials costs and customer behaviour said otherwise — and every year the write-down waits, the bill gets bigger.

The redirected money goes to trucks, vans, hybrids, EREVs, affordable EVs and energy storage, with the Kentucky battery plant switching to storage systems for AI data centers and roughly 1,600 roles going in the near term. Whether the hybrid-first mix actually returns Ford's electrified business to profit by 2029 is, for now, a promise rather than a result.