Ford says it plans to invest $3.7 billion to upgrade plants in Ohio, Michigan and Missouri and to hire 6,200 new unionised workers as it gears up to boost production of electric vehicles, Kallanish reports.

The new hires will help ramp up EV production to 2 million vehicles/year globally by 2026. The company, working with the United Auto Workers, will convert 3,000 temporary workers to full-time status with pay raises and benefits. The moves come in part because the company underestimated the growing demand for EVs, it says. Those new jobs are expected to create about 74,000 indirect jobs in the US, the Michigan-based automaker says.

The company also announced that it will transition to online, fixed-price, delivered-to-your-door EV sales as the only way for customers to purchase EVs.

Ford will spend $2 billion with 2,000 new jobs at three assembly plants in Michigan and 1,200 jobs at other facilities. The hirings will allow increased production of the all-new F-150 Lightning electric truck to 150,000 vehicles/year at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn. The Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne will produce the all-new Ranger pickup and the Flat Rock Assembly Plant will produce the all-new Mustang coupe.

In Ohio, a plant in Avon Lake will get 1,800 new jobs as the facility switches to production of a not-yet-identified electric commercial vehicle. That is a $1.5 billion investment. That expansion will begin this year. Production of the EV truck will begin mid-decade.

In Missouri, Ford will spend $95m and add 1,100 jobs for a third shift at the Kansas City Assembly Plant to increase production of the Transit, a commercial van, and the all-new E-Transit electric van.

The company’s investment deepens its commitment to build EVs, says executive chair Bill Ford in a statement.