DETROIT, May 14, 2026, 04:08 EDT
Ford Motor shares surged 13% on Wednesday, notching their heftiest single-day rally in nearly six years after Morgan Stanley shined a spotlight on the automaker’s latest bet: energy storage. Shares finished at $13.57, putting Ford squarely among the S&P 500’s biggest movers for the day.
Investors have been waiting for Ford to deliver a more straightforward growth pitch after racking up losses and write-downs from its electric vehicle push. Now the company is shifting gears, aiming to repurpose idle battery plants for a new line of business: selling storage systems to utilities, data centers, and big industrial buyers.
Ford Energy, a fully owned subsidiary, is targeting a market driven by the surge in AI data centers and grid needs. Plans call for roughly $2 billion in investment, with first customer systems slated for late 2027. The company aims to roll out a minimum of 20 gigawatt-hours each year—a gigawatt-hour quantifying stored power.
Ford is likely to ink energy-storage supply agreements with major commercial buyers—especially hyperscalers like cloud and data-center giants—over the next few months, according to Morgan Stanley’s Andrew Percoco. The analyst put Ford Energy’s potential value at $10 billion, assuming the company ramps up capacity and builds a solid order pipeline.
Steve Man at Bloomberg Intelligence called the energy move a “nice pivot to a higher margin business.” For Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak, the surge highlighted just how much investor focus is landing on anything connected to hyperscalers. The Economic Times
“Demand is picking up for dispatchable, bankable energy storage in the U.S.,” Ford Energy President Lisa Drake said. The division’s debut product, dubbed the Ford Energy DC Block, is a lithium iron phosphate-based battery system packed inside a 20-foot container. Ford is offering both two-hour and four-hour configurations, tapping into the durability and cost advantages of LFP chemistry. WardsAuto
Forget just General Motors—Tesla sets the bar. The company is pushing ahead with its Megapack storage business, now working with battery maker LG Energy Solution. Rivian, meanwhile, is teaming up with Redwood Materials to repurpose used EV battery packs for storage at its Illinois assembly site.
Ford posted first-quarter revenue of $43.3 billion, with net income coming in at $2.5 billion and adjusted EBIT reaching $3.5 billion—EBIT, that’s earnings before interest and taxes. The automaker also bumped up its full-year adjusted EBIT outlook, now projecting between $8.5 billion and $10.5 billion. Its 2026 capital plan earmarks $1.5 billion for Ford Energy.
But so far, Ford hasn’t begun shipping. The company still faces the task of securing customers, hitting delivery targets, and showing it can carve out a spot in utility-scale storage—a space where established players already sell directly to the grid. Ford’s Model e electric-vehicle division posted a $777 million loss for the first quarter. The automaker has flagged higher aluminum prices, tariff exposure, and ongoing recovery efforts involving supplier Novelis.
Investors are still treating it like an option play. Thursday morning brings Ford’s annual meeting—a platform for executives to clarify if the energy-storage narrative is actually something bigger, or just a clever use for battery inventory sitting idle.
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