A rendering of the Blue Oval Battery Park planned to open in Glendale, Kentucky, in 2025.
Ford Motor Company announced it will build two new large-scale, environmentally and technologically advanced campuses in Kentucky and in Tennessee as part of the manufacturer's plans to greatly increase its production of electric vehicles in the coming years.
Through BlueOvalSK, a new joint venture formed by Ford and partner SK Innovation, the company plans to invest $11.4 billion and create nearly 11,000 new jobs at the Tennessee and Kentucky sites, while also working to modernize its manufacturing processes and minimize the carbon footprint of the facilities.
In Glendale, Kentucky, south of Elizabethtown, Ford plans to invest $5.8 billion to build a dedicated battery manufacturing complex. Called the BlueOvalSK Battery Park and with a target opening date of 2025, the twin battery plants on the 1,500-acre site will create 5,000 jobs and supply Ford’s North American assembly plants with batteries to power next-generation electric Ford and Lincoln vehicles.
“We thank Ford Motor Company and SK Innovation for their investment in Team Kentucky,” said Gov. Andy Beshear. “This is the single largest investment in the history of our state and this project solidifies our leadership role in the future of the automotive manufacturing industry. It will transform our economy, creating a better Kentucky, with more opportunities, for our families for generations.”
An all-new $5.6 billion campus in Stanton, Tennessee, called Blue Oval City, will create approximately 6,000 new jobs and produce Ford's next generation of electric F-Series trucks. The 3,600-acre campus will encompass vehicle assembly, battery production and a supplier park, along with recycling and a wastewater treatment plant, in a vertically integrated system.
Ford’s $7 billion portion of the $11.4 billion total investment is the largest manufacturing investment in the company’s history, officials said, and part of more than $30 billion the manufacture plans to investment in its electric vehicles through 2025. Ford expects 40- to 50-percent of its global vehicle production volume will be fully electric by 2030.
“This is a transformative moment where Ford will lead America’s transition to electric vehicles and usher in a new era of clean, carbon-neutral manufacturing,” said Ford Executive Chair Bill Ford, great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford. “With this investment and a spirit of innovation, we can achieve goals once thought mutually exclusive – protect our planet, build great electric vehicles Americans will love and contribute to our nation’s prosperity.”