Ford's new business is being American

Morgan Stanley, an investment bank, reckons that Ford Energy — the battery-storage subsidiary Ford launched this month with $2 billion in seed capital, a single five-year contract, and zero deliveries — is already worth $10 billion. Against Ford's market capitalization of roughly $55 billion, an unrevenue-generating subsidiary now accounts for nearly a fifth of the company's market value. The premium is on the license.

The premium is most legible at BlueOval Battery Park in Glendale, Kentucky. The plant was built by BlueOval SK, the 50-50 joint venture between Ford and South Korea's SK On, at a cost of $5.8 billion, to produce nickel-cobalt-manganese pouch cells for the F-150 Lightning. In December, with EV demand failing to materialize as projected, Ford ended the venture, laid off the plant's 1,500 workers, took sole ownership through a wholly-owned subsidiary, and announced it would retool the facility for stationary energy storage.