KY remains ‘EV battery capital of the US’ despite BlueOval layoffs, Beshear says
Despite about 1,600 anticipated layoffs at electric vehicle battery maker BlueOval SK, Gov. Andy Beshear said, “Kentucky will remain the EV battery capital of the U.S.”
Ford Motor Co. announced Monday that it will repurpose the facilities at BlueOval SK in Glendale for an energy storage operation. The now defunct joint venture between the automaker and the South Korean battery maker to produce batteries for electric vehicles will be converted to manufacture a special kind of lithium-ion cells, battery energy storage system modules and 20-foot modular data center containers.
Roughly 1,600 people working at BlueOval SK will be laid off in the transition, Ford executive Andrew Frick said Dec. 15. The new energy storage business in Kentucky will have 2,100 employees, about 400 fewer than were anticipated to work at one of two completed facilities in Glendale.
BlueOval SK employees will be given the required 60-day notice of termination required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act and will be given the opportunity to reapply for a job with Ford as it starts its new energy storage business.
Beshear said in a statement to the Herald-Leader he and his team were in direct contact with Ford leadership, “working together to ensure the restructured project moves forward and is successful for both the company, Kentucky and our workforce.
“Right now, our primary focus is helping the affected BlueOval employees find new jobs,” Beshear continued. “Team Kentucky is coordinating with company and community leaders to directly support these employees, in addition to planning job fairs and creating a website offering resources.”
Ford’s announcement of it repurposing the facility were shared Dec. 15 along with a series of actions the automaker plans to deploy in the new year to shift to higher-return opportunities for its shareholders, like adding trucks and vans to its vehicle lineup and ending plans to produce large EVs.
The restructuring news came Monday just four days after South Korean battery maker SK On ended its joint venture with Ford for U.S. production of parts for electric vehicles. That joint venture began in 2022 with an initial investment across U.S. facilities of about $11 billion and a promise to employ more than 10,000 people.
The split is the result of slow EV demand, federal tax credits for their purchase sunsetting and federal policy favoring gasoline-powered cars.
“EV is — and will be — part of America’s future despite the President’s shortsighted attacks on the industry,” Beshear said. “We have that same confidence in our longtime partner Ford, which recently invested $2 billion in Louisville’s Assembly Plant to establish production of an electric midsize pickup truck.”
The two businesses, Ford and SK On, began building a nearly $6 billion, 1,500-acre campus in Hardin County in 2022. Two plants, each estimated to employ 2,500 people, are being constructed at the site where batteries were being made to power EVs.
In December 2022, Kentucky economic development officials gave final approval for $250 million in upfront public subsidies in the form of loans that could only be forgiven if the companies hit job and wage targets. The state also spent $25 million establishing a workforce training center at the Elizabethtown Community & Technical College.
As with any company that makes changes to its original incentive agreement, terms for Ford are being renegotiated.
BlueOval SK was not Ford’s only EV venture in Kentucky. In August, the automaker said it would pump $2 billion into its Louisville Assembly Plant for assembly of a new, midsize electric truck and facility expansion to support a universal EV platform.
The company has had a more than 100-year-old history in Kentucky, supplying thousands with jobs and generating millions in economic development dollars and more. In October, Ford looked to its Kentucky Truck Plant to make up for revenue and production volume loss following a fire that temporarily took out its aluminum supplier.
Reps. Samara Heavrin, R-Leitchfield, and Steve Bratcher, R-Elizabethtown, said in a joint statement their focus remained on those whose jobs have been impacted and, “that going forward this new project delivers real, lasting investment and meaningful employment for the families and communities surrounding Glendale.”
The two state legislators who represent the area surrounding the BlueOval SK plants said they were “optimistic” about Ford’s takeover of the plant and its transition, especially since the project has faced significant challenges.
“At the same time, optimism must be matched with both caution and accountability, and we will be watching closely to ensure commitments are met and honored,” Heavrin and Bratcher said.
From the other body of the Kentucky General Assembly, Sen. Matt Deneen, R-Elizabethtown, said there will be “short-term challenges” associated with Ford’s transition.
“Ford’s $2 billion commitment to the Glendale facilities, coupled with its expansion of energy-storage battery production to serve a broad range of industrial and utility needs, underscores the company’s long-term commitment to this community,” Deneen said.
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