Ford begins production of electric motors in the United Kingdom

The American manufacturer has just taken another major step in its transition to electric mobility with the start of production of electric drive units at its Halewood plant in the United Kingdom. This facility, with a production capacity of 420,000 of these drive units per year, has thus become a key element in the company’s supply chain, as these motors will go into 70 percent of the electric vehicles that Ford sells in Europe.

The drive units coming off the Halewood line will be used in new models, such as the recently unveiled Puma Gen-E. These motors will be exported to other Ford plants in Romania and Turkey, where they will be assembled into vehicles such as the aforementioned Puma Gen-E, or the electric commercial vehicles E-Transit and E-Tourneo in their Custom and Courier variants.

The decision by Ford to transform the Halewood plant for electric motor production was announced in 2021 with an initial investment of £230 million, which a year later was increased by an additional £150 million. This significant sum has not only allowed production capacity to double to the aforementioned 420,000 units per year, but will also ensure that the Halewood plant becomes an important supplier of components for a large share of the 600,000 electric vehicles that Ford plans to sell in Europe by 2026. It should also be noted that, to make this project possible, the British Government has contributed over £30 million in grants.

Halewood: a production plant of vital importance for Ford

Thus, with the exception of the two models based on the MEB platform of Volkswagen produced at the German Ford plant in Cologne -the Explorer and the Capri-, whose drive units are supplied by the German company, the majority of electric motors for the electric models that Ford will sell in Europe will come from the Halewood plant. These motors vary in power depending on the model, with options ranging from 100 to 210 kW.

The Halewood plant, located in the Liverpool region, has not, however, absorbed all of the American manufacturer’s investment in the country. Ford has also spent £24 million on its new development centre located in Dunton (Essex), where prototypes have been created and employees are also being trained to assemble these new electric components.