Though the automaker has scaled back its ambitious electrification plans as of late, a number of Ford EV joint venture plants are still slated to come online over the next couple of years, regardless. Two of those joint venture Ford EV plants – the BlueOval SK Battery Park campus – were earmarked to receive a substantial $9.2 billion from the U.S. Department of Energy as part of its Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program, as Ford Authority reported back in June 2023. Now, those loans have been officially finalized.
According to Reuters, the U.S. Energy Department has finalized a $9.63 billion loan for the BlueOvalSK joint venture between Ford and South Korean battery manufacturer SK On, which is the largest ever to be distributed from the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program. It’s higher than the aforementioned $9.2 billion dollar figure as well, and will help the joint venture finish building out its trio of plants at the pair of under-construction sites as it works to begin churning out EVs and batteries in the coming years.
“This program is essential to getting people to choose the United States of America,” said Jigar Shah, head of the DOE Loan Programs office. “When you look at the competition that we have from China, it is very clear to me that they have used low-cost debt for a very long time to promote a lot of manufacturing capacity that has hollowed out many communities in Kentucky, Tennessee, and other states around the country.”
Interestingly, the United Auto Workers (UAW) previously panned this proposed loan, noting that it takes “no consideration for wages, working conditions, union rights or retirement security” and labeled it a “giveaway,” though workers at the BlueOvakSK Battery Park site recently signed cards with an intent to unionize the facility. EV battery production at that plant is slated to begin in Q1 2025, but the next-generation Ford F-150 EV won’t go online at BlueOval City until 2027.
This article has been updated to clarify that BlueOval SK is the recipient of the loan and that workers have signaled an intent to unionize.
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