SK On-Ford battery joint venture breaks ground in Kentucky

BlueOval SK, a joint venture between SK On and Ford Motor Company, broke ground on two electric vehicle (EV) battery plants in Kentucky on Monday.

Second from left: David Hahm, CEO of BlueOval SK, Jee Dong-seob, CEO of SK On, Chey Jae-won, executive vice chairman of SK Group, Liliana Ramirez, Ford Motor Company’s global director of workforce development, Andy Beshear, governor of Kentucky and Dave Nowicki, Ford Motor Company’s director of manufacturing pose for a photo at the ground breaking ceremony of the Kentucky battery plant on Monday. [SK ON]

BlueOval SK, a joint venture between SK On and Ford Motor Company, broke ground on two electric vehicle (EV) battery plants in Kentucky on Monday.

The plants will be built on a 6.28-million-square-meter (67.6-million-square-feet) plot of land, each able to produce batteries with a capacity of 43 gigawatt hours (GWh) annually, according to SK On on Tuesday.

The plants will start manufacturing battery cells in the first quarter of 2025.

“BlueOval SK Battery Park will be at the core of the electrification of the North American auto market,” said Jee Dong-seob, SK On president and CEO. “We expect SK On and Ford’s leadership in the global electric vehicle market to be solidified through BlueOval SK.”

SK On and Ford Motor Company announced in May that it will invest 10.2 trillion won ($7.7 billion) to build three battery plants, with one in Tennessee and two in Kentucky.

Another in Tennessee will be built on a 15.53-million-square-meter plot of land with Ford Motor Company’s EV plant and break ground within this year.

When completed, the combined capacity of the three plants will be 129 GWh per year, which will be enough to supply batteries to some 1.2 million EVs.

SK On’s annual battery manufacturing capacity is 77 GWh as of December. The company plans to up that to 500 GWh by end of 2030 with the new plants.

BlueOval SK will also build Elizabethtown Community and Technical College in a 42,000-square-foot plot of land in Glendale, Tennessee. The center is expected to open in 2024, training the joint venture’s employees about battery manufacturing.

“As both the largest economic development project in our state’s history and part of the biggest investment ever by Ford, this project cements Kentucky’s status as the electric vehicle battery production capital of the United States,” said Andy Beshear, governor of Kentucky.

Executives from SK On and Ford Motor attended the ground breaking ceremony, including SK Group executive vice chairman Chey Jae-won, SK On president Jee Dong-seob, BlueOval SK CEO David Hahm and Ford Motor Company workforce development director Liliana Ramirez. Officials from the state of Kentucky, such as governor Andy Beshear, also attended.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]