Ford halts F-150 EV production, deliveries after battery fire

WASHINGTON: Ford Motor Co on Wednesday said the suspension of production of its F-150 Lightning electric vehicle (EV) will last until at least the end of next week after a battery fire involving one of the vehicles earlier in the month. The second-biggest U.S. automaker by sales after General Motors Co said one EV truck caught fire on Feb. 4 during a pre-delivery quality inspection in a company holding lot in Dearborn, Michigan, and spread to a nearby truck. The company said it halted production the next day at its assembly plant in Dearborn.

Ford said it believes it has identified the root cause of the fire and expects to conclude an investigation by the end of next week and apply findings to the truck's battery production process, which could take a few weeks. The automaker on Tuesday said it had halted production and deliveries, and on Wednesday gave further details. It confirmed the fire on Wednesday after the Detroit Free Press reported the incident earlier.

Ford said it will continue to hold "already-produced vehicles while we work through engineering and process updates." The automaker said it was "not aware of any incidents of this issue in the field and do not believe F-150 Lightnings already in customers' hands are affected by this issue." Ford shares closed down 0.3% at $12.93 and fell 0.7% in after-hours trading.

Separately, Ford has temporarily halted production at its Louisville Assembly Plant to address production issues with its refreshed 2023 Escape SUV, Automotive News media reported, citing a memo that stated the issue was related to software in the vehicle's data display cluster. Workers were told the plant would be idled from Feb. 13-19, Automotive News said. Ford declined to confirm the stoppage when contacted by news agency.