Ford makes bold shift into energy storage to keep battery plants busy
USA TODAY
Ford moves into energy storage to keep U.S. battery plants running as it targets grid and data center demand.
On July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the Lunar Module Eagle on the surface of the moon and radioed to Earth: "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”
What does that have to do with Ford Motor Co.? Everything. You see, much of the equipment used in the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, including the voice transmission back to Houston, came from Ford. It built the Mission Control Center in Houston, Ted Ryan, Ford's archives and Heritage Brand manager, told the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network.
In 1961, Ford wanted to stretch beyond making cars so it bought electronics manufacturer Philco and transferred Ford's Aeronutronic Division to the new entity called Philco-Ford, Ryan said. Two years later, Philco-Ford competed against IBM, RCA, Lockheed, Hughes Aircraft and AT&T for the bid to build the Mission Control Center. Philco-Ford was considered an underdog, yet it won the job as prime contractor.
Ford is at it again, venturing outside its lane as a carmaker into a new business — this time making battery energy storage systems — which are large batteries, some as big as shipping containers, used by utility companies and data centers to store energy for use later to stabilize the power grid and to avoid blackouts.
Ford calls the new business Ford Energy and Ford is considered the underdog in this space too. Ford has little experience making such batteries and it will be going up against competitors Tesla, LG Energy Solution and SK On, all of whom have been making the energy storage systems for more than a decade.
Monica Goods, an 11-year-old girl, was killed after her family's car was rammed while being pursued by the state trooper.
A 5-year-old in Colorado was killed in his home, and authorities suspect his older brother of the crime.
Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, of Dearborn Heights, was identified as the suspect who on March 12 rammed his truck into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield.
Clergy and staff members at the temple had just undergone FBI-led active-shooter training in January, according to the bureau's Detroit field office.
Gerry Goldberg's wife Andie was killed at a the intersection in 2024. He advocated to make it safer, but was killed there in a March 2 crash.
As TSA officers work without pay amid a partial government shutdown, security experts say the threat of terror linked to the Iran war has risen.
The murder of Denise Amber Lee in Florida exposed the vulnerabilities of the 911 system nationwide and led to reform within the industry.
Ayman Ghazali made the purchase at Phantom Fireworks in Michigan in the early afternoon on March 10, a company executive told the Detroit Free Press.
Local prosecutors confirmed to USA TODAY charges were dropped without elaborating on what prompted the change.
A brief clip of a DoorDasher dropping off a food delivery led to over a half a million dollars in donations. See what happened.
A cargo resupply spacecraft is on its way back to Earth from the International Space Station, where it will make a fiery reentry Saturday, March 14.
Authorities are still investigating what led to the shooting that left an instructor dead and two students wounded. Here's what we know so far.
Relatives of the attacker who rammed his truck into a synagogue outside Detroit were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon, a local official said.