Ford Shares Rise On Appointment Of New Head For Energy Storage Segment, Launched To Stem EV Losses

• Drake will launch the company’s battery energy storage systems business, announced in December, and be responsible for Ford Energy’s end-to-end operations.
• The company launched the new energy storage business to feed the growing demand for energy from data centers and boost revenue from its underutilized EV battery capacity.
• Ford rival General Motors on Tuesday raised its profit outlook for 2026 despite tariff headwinds and slowing demand for electric vehicles.

Ford Motor Co. (F) on Tuesday announced the appointment of Lisa Drake as the President for its newly created energy business aimed at diversifying revenue streams.

Drake will launch the company’s battery energy storage systems (BESS) business, announced in December, and be responsible for Ford Energy’s end-to-end operations, spanning battery cell manufacturing, system assembly, and sales.

Shares of the company rose 3% at the time of writing.

Drake’s New Role

The company said on Tuesday that Drake will now lead the company's Energy segment and report to vice chair John Lawler.

Drake was previously vice president for Technology Platform Programs and EV Systems, leading the industrial plan for batteries and electric propulsion engineering at Ford.

Ford’s New EV Strategy

Dearborn-based automaker Ford said in December that it expects to incur $19.5 billion in EV-related charges as it killed plans for several large EV models to stem losses amid waning government support for electric vehicles. While a majority of the charges would be incurred in the fourth quarter of 2025, the remaining will be incurred in 2026 and 2027, the company said.

“Ford no longer plans to produce select larger electric vehicles where the business case has eroded due to lower-than-expected demand, high costs and regulatory changes,” the company then said. Instead, Ford is now looking at launching more affordable EVs on its Universal Electric Platform.

Ford’s Universal EV platform is a new platform aimed at enabling a family of affordable electric vehicles. The first vehicle from the platform will be a midsize four-door electric pickup with a targeted starting price of about $30,000, slated for delivery in 2027. The company also unveiled plans to introduce autonomous driving on lower-cost EVs at CES tech conference earlier this month.

The company also launched the new energy storage business in December to feed the growing demand for energy from data centers and boost revenue from its underutilized EV battery capacity.

The company intends to repurpose its existing U.S. battery manufacturing capacity in Glendale, Kentucky for the purpose and convert it to manufacture 5 MWh+ advanced battery energy storage systems. The company also plans to invest roughly $2 billion in two years to scale the business and deploy at least 20 GWh annually by late 2027.

The company recently disposed of a joint venture with South Korea’s SK On, as a result of which its unit now owns and operates the Kentucky battery plants.

Waning EV Demand

Ford’s EV sales have taken a dive since the demise of the federal tax credit of $7,500 on the purchase of new EVs to the end of September.

The automaker witnessed its pure EV sales decline by about 52% in the three months through the end of December to 14,513 units, down from 30,176 units in Q4 2024.

Rival Performance

Ford rival General Motors on Tuesday raised its profit outlook for 2026 despite tariff headwinds and slowing demand for electric vehicles, raising similar hopes for Ford Q4 earnings slated to be announced on Feb. 10.

GM now expects full-year adjusted and diluted earnings per share of $11 - $13, above the $10.60 reported in FY25, and exceeding an analyst estimate of $11.83 at the midpoint, according to data from Fiscal AI.

How Did Stocktwits Users React?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around F stock stayed within the 'bearish' territory while message volume increased from ‘normal’ to ‘high’ levels.

A Stocktwits user voiced hopes for Ford announcing a supplemental dividend for Q1 2026.

Another user opined that F stock should be valued at about $17, representing significant potential upside from current trading levels

F stock has gained 34% over the past 12 months. 

Also See: Tesla’s Brand Value Tanked In 2025 — Consulting Firm Thinks Musk’s Politics Could Have Played A Role

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