Legacy automaker Ford (F) has decided to make an omelet with its broken eggs, and in that vein, is taking advantage of the infrastructure it built to service electric cars to instead just store energy. Ford recently launched the Ford Energy subsidiary, and set an impressive goal for it: 20 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of battery storage annually. That is an impressive push, and shareholders rewarded the audacity with a fractional boost in Ford shares in Tuesday afternoon’s trading.
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Basically, Ford will produce and sell battery energy storage systems (BESS) units, with a range of customers in mind like data centers and large industrial operations. Ford figured it should do something with all the batteries it produced to go into electric cars that, in their form at the time, will never happen. Thus, Ford set out to take the fight to Tesla (TSLA), all over again.
And 20 GWh is actually a very ambitious figure. Tesla recently announced plans to build out its own energy storage operations at the Giga Berlin factory, elevating its own product from eight to 18 GWh annually. In short, it is an excellent way to use some of those batteries that are not likely to find their way to an electric car in the near-term.
Fewer Options
Those in the market for a Ford Super Duty next year may be unhappy to note that two engine options are out the door altogether. The 6.8-liter gas engine is gone, as is the 6.7-liter diesel engine. Both of these will be replaced by the new standard, a 7.3-liter V8 engine known as “Godzilla.” Reports suggest there will also be only one option for those who want a diesel engine: the Power Stroke. This was originally a 6.7-liter engine, so the exact nature of the change is unclear.
Reasons for the change are unclear, though may be as simple as mere consolidation. Also, prices on the new models are as yet unknown as these are 2027 models we are talking about here. But given that an upgrade from the 6.8-liter to the 7.3-liter came with a $1,500 surcharge, it is a safe bet that base prices will increase in 2027.
Is Ford Stock a Good Buy Right Now?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on F stock based on three Buys, nine Holds and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 12.26% rally in its share price over the past year, the average F price target of $13.69 per share implies 14.29% upside potential.
