Ford Holds 2029 EV Breakeven Target as Model e Loss Narrows

Ford Motor Co. is holding to 2029 as the breakeven year for its electric-vehicle division, even as the unit lost $1.1 billion before interest and taxes in the third quarter and faces a heavy capital bill through 2027.

CEO Jim Farley and his leadership team reaffirmed the target on an Oct. 28 conference call with analysts and investors, following a companywide Q3 that produced nearly $2.1 billion in profit on revenues of $49.5 billion. The year ahead brings two pivotal launches: the midsized Fathom pickup and a stepped-up push into battery storage through Ford Energy.

What does the Q3 number actually show?

Model e's $1.1 billion EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) loss marks an improvement from the $1.4 billion lost in the same period of 2025, but it's worse than Q2's $919 million loss. Revenues at the division fell more than 30% year over year, to about $1.2 billion.

The decline isn't a demand mystery. Ford, like General Motors, has cut EV production after certain U.S. tax credits for EVs expired last year and demand softened as a result.

The bet now is the Fathom, priced at about $28,000 and aimed squarely at an EV market where prices have risen lately. Executives say they're confident the midsized truck can gain traction at that price point.

Where does the Fathom stand in the plant?

Louisville, Kentucky, is the center of the ramp. COO Kumar Galhotra said teams there have completed 90% of validation testing and produced 5,000 unicastings — large single-piece castings that cut a vehicle's parts count and sit at the heart of Ford's cost-reduction strategy.

The Fathom will be the first vehicle built on Ford's Universal EV platform. Customers can start pre-ordering early next year. CFO Sherry House said Ford will keep investing heavily through 2027.

Why won't the path to breakeven be straight?

Because Ford Energy needs cash too. The battery-storage venture, housed inside Model e, will require about $1.3 billion next year alone. It is building a 4 million-square-foot plant in Kentucky that will produce lithium iron phosphate (LFP) storage systems.

"We're now expecting higher expenses in 2027 as the plant's coming into focus," House said. She framed the financial inflection point explicitly: "We think that the next step-function change in profitability is going to happen in the first half of 2028 as UEV and Ford Energy both ramp with revenue."

Her timeline, in her own words on the call:

• Fathom launches toward the end of 2027 with the first derivative of the Universal EV platform
• A full year of Fathom production follows in 2028
• Ford Energy investment escalates, with full-year battery-storage production also by 2028

That puts Ford on a similar clock to GM. GM CFO Paul Jacobson said last month that it will be 2028 before GM's EV financials turn a corner in earnest. GM's forecast leans on a lithium manganese-rich battery chemistry it's developing with LG Energy Solution, which offers higher energy density than the LFP cells Ford has chosen.

What does this change for investors?

Not much yet, on the market's read. Ford shares (ticker: F) rose nearly 4% to $12.43 in midday trading Oct. 29, though the stock is essentially flat over six months and the company's market capitalization sits near $50 billion.

What to watch next: Fathom pre-orders opening early next year, validation testing crossing from 90% to complete at Louisville, and the first sign of whether Ford Energy's Kentucky plant hits its 2027 commissioning schedule — the gate House has set before that projected first-half 2028 step-change in profitability.