Ford, SK joint venture to get US$ 9.2 billion US government loan for battery plants

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) has announced a conditional commitment for a loan of up to US$ 9.2 billion to BlueOval SK (BOSK) for the construction of three manufacturing plants to produce batteries for Ford Motor Company’s future Ford and Lincoln electric vehicles. 

Together, the plants, one located in Tennessee and two in Kentucky, will enable more than 120 gigawatt hours of U.S. battery production annually and displace more than 455 million gallons of gasoline per year for the lifetime of the vehicles powered by these batteries. The project is expected to create a total of approximately 5,000 constructions jobs in Tennessee and Kentucky, and 7,500 operations jobs once the plants are up and running.  

BOSK is a joint venture between Ford Motor Company (Ford) and SK On, a global leading Korean EV battery manufacturer. BOSK was created to supply Ford with batteries for its growing EV product line.  

The loan is also the largest (by far) since the US auto bailout sparked by the global financial crisis in 2009, as per Bloomberg.

Expanding domestic production of American-made batteries is critical to reaching the Biden-Harris Administration’s goals to have EVs represent at least 50% of all new car sales in the U.S. by 2030, reach net-zero electricity by 2035 and a net-zero economy by 2050.