Kentucky Gov Says Trump’s Actions Won’t Kill Ford BlueOval Plants

BlueOval SK Battery Park in Kentucky has been under construction for some time now, and is currently on track to begin building EV batteries in the coming months. Though the joint-venture between Ford and SK On is building two battery plants at the site, only one will be used for now – employing 2,500 people when it opens – while the other will remain idle for the time being. In the meantime, BlueOval Battery Park and many others like it are facing a bit of an uncertain future in terms of federal incentives following the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, though that won’t seemingly stop it from opening.

According to WDRB news, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear has confirmed that Trump’s actions won’t stop result in BlueOval Battery Park being shut down, noting that federal funds allocated for the site have already been distributed. Along with rolling back some of his predecessor Joe Biden’s EV-related policies as of late, Trump has also killed off the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, which had previously earmarked $5 billion for the installation of new EV chargers across the U.S. The Ford-backed lobby group Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA) has asked Trump to reconsider this move, however.

During his time in office, Biden launched a $2.3 trillion-dollar infrastructure plan with $174 billion earmarked for EVs and clean energy – $100 billion of which was reserved for clean energy conservation rebates, $15 billion toward building 500,000 new EV charging stations, along with $20 billion for electric school buses, $25 billion for zero-emission transit vehicles, and $14 billion in other tax incentives. Trump has most recently enacted new tariffs on Chinese goods – in addition to those imposed by Biden last fall.

As for BlueOval SK Battery Park, it’s also dealing with the fact that a supermajority of its workers recently signed union authorization cards and launched their campaign to join the United Auto Workers (UAW), and subsequently filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board. Though it’s facing a general slowdown in EV demand, Ford has also reportedly baked in flexibility at these future EV plants, which could enable them to build extended-range all-electric models, too.