Construction well underway at BlueOval SK's Kentucky sites

About a one-hour ride from Louisville, the biggest city in Kentucky, sits Glendale, a small town with about 2,000 residents. The quiet town is calm and peaceful until reaching a site in which two massive EV battery plants are being built.

The BlueOval SK Battery Park Kentucky in Glendale, Kentucky. SK On and Ford are building two EV plants there. [SK ON]

GLENDALE, Kentucky - About a one-hour ride from Louisville, the biggest city in Kentucky, sits Glendale, a small town with about 2,000 residents. The quiet town is calm and peaceful until reaching a site in which two massive electric vehicle (EV) battery plants are being built.

Hundreds were working on steel frame structures on Jan. 8, with dozens of Ford pick-ups and buggy cars hurriedly moving to transfer concrete and equipment.

After a couple of months of building, the structure is already starting to take shape.

The BlueOval SK Battery Park Kentucky is home to twin battery plants with a combined capacity of 86 gigawatt-hours. It will be the biggest EV battery factory at single site in the United States.

BlueOval is a 50:50 joint venture between SK On and Ford.

Three Ford F-150 Lightning trucks are used at the Kentucky EV construction site. [SARAH CHEA]

Cho Nam-hyeon, project engineer at the construction site, explains about the plant during a press tour on Jan. 8. [SK ON]

“About 700 construction workers work six days a week for about 10 hours a day for this plant,” said Cho Nam-hyeon, project engineer at the site, who led a media tour.

“A total of 7,900 tons of structural steel were used so far, with 3,300 tons of reinforcing rebar and 4.3 million cubic yards of soil.”

Cho drove Ford’s F150 Lightning to help tour the facility, the best-selling electric truck in the United States, which is equipped with SK On’s batteries.

Introduced in June, the truck is fitted with SK On’s newest battery cell, the NCM9. It is the world's first battery to hit the 90-percent nickel content level that allows for higher energy density and improved storage capacity.

“We are working on the first plant, and as soon as we finish with the construction of steel frames, we will start working on the second one right next to it,” Shin Dong-yun, director at SK On’s business office, during a press conference after the tour.

“The construction has been going smoothly according to the plan.”

The BlueOval SK Battery Park Kentucky. [SK ON]

The BlueOval SK Battery Park Kentucky. [SK ON]

The first plant is scheduled to start mass production in 2025, while the second facility in 2026.

SK On also plans to build an education center on the campus that can train on-site engineers and coordinators. The Kentucky plants are expected to hire more than 5,000 new employees.

“The engineers and related staff will have to learn more about our batteries before we start mass production,” said Park Chang-seok, project leader at BlueOval SK’s construction unit.

The 3,900-square-meter education center, which will be called Elizabethtown Community and Technical College BlueOval SK Training Center, will be opened in 2024.

Park Chang-seok, project leader at BlueOval SK’s construction unit, speaks during a press conference ahead of the media tour. [SARAH CHEA]

The BlueOval SK Battery Park Kentucky. [SK ON]

“Many people are gathering into this region with the news about the BlueOval’s Kentucky plants,” said Priscilla Mosher, a resident of Elizabethtown.

“I hope this opportunity will help the expansion of infrastructure and regional development.”

SK On and Ford established the BlueOval SK last year with an $11.4 billion investment to build two plants in Kentucky and one in Tennessee. When completed, the combined capacity of the three plants will be 129 gigawatt hours per year, which will be enough to supply batteries for about 1.2 million EVs.

SK On also has two independent factories in Commerce, Georgia, with the second one currently under production.

Jeong Jun-yong, the chief executive of SK battery America, speaks during a press conference in Georgia on Jan. 9. [SARAH CHEA]

“About 96 percent of the equipment used in SK’s Georgia plant such as electrodes and modules came from Korean companies,” said Jeong Jun-yong, the chief executive of SK battery America. “About 80 percent of raw materials for batteries also came from Korea.”

“That will also apply to BlueOval’s battery plants as well, which will help Korean firms to enter the U.S. market and create new jobs.”

This could create more than 2 trillion won ($1.6 billion) in economic benefits, SK On said.

SK On was the fifth largest battery maker in the world, with a 5.9 percent share as of the end of November last year, up from ninth in 2019, according to data from SNE Research.

A total of 5.4 gigawatt hours of SK On batteries were used last year through October, a 646 percent jump from the same period the previous year.

The battery maker aims to ramp up its share by targeting the North American market, aiming to have 150 gigawatt-hour capacity by 2025.

SK On batteries are used in the Ford F-150 Lightning, Volkswagen’s ID.4s, Hyundai Motor’s Ioniq 5s and Kia’s EV6s.

Night view of the BlueOval SK Battery Park Kentucky. [SK ON]

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]