Ford (F), which announced a $19.5 billion write-down in its electric vehicle (EV) business in December and is struggling to grow EV sales, is now betting on energy storage systems. At least one Wall Street analyst, namely Morgan Stanley’s Andrew Percoco, sounds upbeat on Ford’s latest venture and sees the Blue Oval’s partnership with China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology (CYATY) as its “underappreciated strategic competitive advantage.”
Meanwhile, for all practical purposes, Ford’s EV pivot was a failure despite the company burning billions of dollars in building that business, which was expected to challenge U.S. market leader Tesla. Even Ford's electric F-150, America’s best-selling gas pickup for decades, failed to cut ice with buyers. Would the energy push be the savior that Ford has long been looking for, and can the company compete with Tesla (TSLA) in that business? Let’s explore.
