Ford and GM enter battery storage business

Ford has created Ford Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary that will supply U.S.-assembled battery energy storage systems to utilities, data centers and industrial customers. The company says it plans to invest about $2 billion over the next two years and aims to deploy at least 20 gigawatt-hours of storage annually by late 2027, repurposing battery manufacturing capacity in Glendale, Kentucky.

Ford is already lining up demand. In May, Ford Energy said EDF power solutions North America could procure up to 4 gigawatt-hours a year under a five-year framework, or as much as 20 GWh over the life of the deal. Ford says the business is designed to capture demand created by data-center growth, renewable integration and the need for grid resilience.

GM is making a similar move, launching an energy-storage business and vehicle-to-grid offerings while also partnering with Peak Energy on sodium-ion grid storage. It has also sent repurposed second-life battery packs to Redwood Materials’ microgrid project in Nevada, underscoring how automakers are trying to extend battery life beyond cars.

The timing is favorable. The U.S. energy storage market installed a record 20.2 GWh in the second quarter of 2026, according to SEIA and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, bringing first-half installations to 30.8 GWh. Battery storage also supplied more electricity to the grid in the first eight months of 2026 than in all of 2025, while the Energy Information Administration says U.S. utility-scale battery capacity has grown at an average annual rate of 70% over the past three years.

For investors, the move offers a potential margin reset story for Ford and GM: less dependence on slower-moving EV sales, more exposure to a fast-growing infrastructure market, and better use of capital already sunk into battery plants. It also raises competition for established storage players such as Tesla and QuantumScape-linked supply-chain bets, while reinforcing the view that power demand from AI and grid modernization is becoming a larger industrial theme.

The next catalyst is execution: whether Ford and GM can turn pilot agreements and idle capacity into repeatable orders, margin improvement and meaningful revenue before the storage market gets more crowded.