Gov. Andy Beshear has long touted Ford's planned Kentucky EV battery plant. He blamed recent changes on Rep. Brett Guthrie and President Trump.

In its statement about shifting away from EVs, Ford (F) also revealed plans to repurpose existing U.S. battery manufacturing capacity in Glendale, Kentucky, to serve the battery energy storage systems (BESS) market. The company also plans to invest approximately $2 billion over the next two years to scale its business.

US-based Factorial Energy and South Korea’s POSCO FUTURE M are teaming up on all-solid-state batteries, the “holy grail” of

Ford announced a series of moves in its EV business, pivoting to a hybrid and extended range EV (EREV) strategy instead of full EVs, and will take a whopping $19.5 billion in charges related to the move.

Ford expects ~$19.5B in special items, mostly in Q4 2025, with the remainder across 2026–2027. Read more here.

From sodium-ion to the EV slowdown, the battery industry saw breakthroughs, setbacks and everything in between in 2025.

WATT had previously developed the Passenger and Commercial EV Skateboard (PACES), a lightweight aluminum platform for low-volume EVs. Now, it’s integrating Donut’s motors, first with one for each rear wheel, although there will eventually be an all-wheel-drive variant, too.

Stellantis' patent for an on-board fire suppressant system for EVs has just been granted, and it could make electrified vehicles even safer.