Photo credit Aerial Innovations SE
The $5.6-billion project, which sits on 4,000 acres over six square miles and required 6,000 workers at peak, completed ahead
of schedule.
Ford BlueOval City
Stanton, Tenn.
Manufacturing
Submitted by: Walbridge
Region: ENR Texas & Southeast
Owner: Ford Motor Co.
Lead Design Firms: SSOE; Gala and Associates; Ghafari
Construction Manager: Walbridge
Structural Engineer: Gala and Associates
Civil/MEP Engineer: SSOE
The team behind a $5.6-billion megaproject designed to manufacture and assemble F-Series electric vehicles for Ford Motor Co. was delivered to be carbon neutral, with zero waste to landfill once fully operational.
The BlueOval City plant, located on a 4,000-acre campus, was designed as one of the largest auto manufacturing plants in the U.S. and among the first to co-locate EV assembly and battery manufacturing at the same site. The facility, developed by Ford in joint venture with South Korea-based SK On, was designed to integrate up to 43 GWh per year of local renewable energy sources such as geothermal, solar and wind.
“By reimagining how electric vehicles—and the batteries that power them—were designed, manufactured and recycled, Ford created an all-new electric vehicle manufacturing system,” according to Detroit-based submitter Walbridge, which served as the project’s construction manager. Contractors broke ground on the project in 2022 and completed construction ahead of schedule in April 2025.
During preconstruction, the team identified two major challenges: shortages of supplies and labor. “Materials like stone, sand, concrete roofing, metal siding and structural steel, which traditionally have shorter procurement times, were … affected significantly” by COVID-19, says the team.
Moreover, the project at peak would require 6,000 workers, more than the number of people available. The team opted to procure materials during the design stages and developed a plan to warehouse materials onsite before they were needed.
In December, Ford and SK On announced they were dissolving their partnership due to current EV market conditions, with the automaker pivoting to using the Tennessee plant for assembly of gas-powered trucks. SK On said it is restructuring.
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Pam is ENR’s senior editor for government coverage, focusing on federal environmental and labor issues as they relate to the construction industry. She has a degree in journalism and an M.A. in writing fiction, and has worked previously as both an editor at ENR (2007-2016) and as a freelancer for a variety of publications and clients. One of her favorite gigs involved writing about stars, black holes and the mysteries of the universe for NASA.
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