Ford and SK On will receive a $9.2 billion government loan for Batteries BlueOval SK joint ventureaccording to a Thursday report from The New York Times.
The Department of Energy loan — the largest by the Biden administration to date related to electric vehicle production — will help fund the construction of battery plants in Kentucky and Tennessee.
Ford announces 2021 plants, cites a record Invest 11.4 billion USD and created nearly 11,000 new jobs at these two giant manufacturing complexes. The automaker and SK On said in 2021 that the BlueOval SK joint venture will target 60 gigawatt-hours of annual battery production by the middle of the decade.
BlueOvalSK Battery Park – render, September 2021
Plans include Blue Oval City, in western Tennessee, and BlueOval SK Battery Park, with twin battery plants at the same site, in central Kentucky. Ford says in 2021 that it will build both complexes and plans to have them operational by 2025.
Blue Oval City includes not only a battery factory, but also a supply park and vehicle assembly plant that will produce electric trucks, including the next generation. Lightning F-150. SK On manufactured the current generation Lightning cell in Georgia.
The BlueOval SK Battery Park complex in central Kentucky will include two future Ford and Lincoln electric vehicle battery plants.
BlueOvalSK Battery Park – render, September 2021
In addition to the BlueOval SK complexes, Ford in February announced an agreement with CATL for a $3.5 billion battery plant in Marshall, Michigan. The automaker also continues to assemble the Mustang Mach-E in Mexico using LG cells sourced from a factory in Poland.
The Department of Energy loan is the largest to date under a revived program once used by the Obama administration to fund Tesla, Nissan and Ford, among others, but ignored by the Trump administration. Under President Biden, the Department of Energy extended a $2 billion loan to Tesla veteran JB Straubel’s Battery recycling company Redwood Materials and a $2.5 billion loan to General Motors’ Cell Ultium LLC battery joint venture with LG.
