SK Innovation ups capex in battery JV with Ford to $4.45 billion

SK Innovation Co. has approved a 5.1 trillion won ($4.45 billion) spending on an electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant in the United States through BlueOvalSK, its joint venture with American automotive giant Ford Motor Co.

The capex has been bumped up from 3 trillion won proposed in May upon announcing its joint venture agreement with Ford.

SK Innovation disclosed Tuesday that the scheme passed the board meeting on Monday.

On Tuesday, shares of SK Innovation gained 3.78 percent to close at 261,000 won in Seoul.

The budget would be spent incrementally from October 2021 to December 2027.

The increase in investment comes after Ford decided to double its EV battery supply from SK Innovation for its electric pickups and other cars.

In May, SK Innovation and Ford announced setting up BlueOvalSK to jointly manufacture battery cells for electric vehicles in the U.S. with annual production output initially planned at 60 gigawatt hours.

The companies were to invest 6 trillion won in total for the JV, or 3 trillion won each.

Earlier on Sept 3 at extraordinary shareholders meeting, SK Innovation CEO Kim Jun said the company will expand EV battery production facilities including those in the U.S. as its cumulative orders already have exceeded 1 terawatt hours.

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