SK On-Ford battery joint venture breaks ground in Kentucky

Second from left: David Hahm, CEO of BlueOval SK, Jee Dong-seob, CEO of SK On, Chey Jae-won, government vice chairman of SK Group, Liliana Ramirez, Ford Motor Firm’s world director of workforce improvement, Andy Beshear, governor of Kentucky and Dave Nowicki, Ford Motor Firm’s director of producing pose for a photograph on the floor breaking ceremony of the Kentucky battery plant on Monday. [SK ON]

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BlueOval SK, a three way partnership between SK On and Ford Motor Firm, broke floor on two electrical automobile (EV) battery crops in Kentucky on Monday.
 
The crops will probably be constructed on a 6.28-million-square-meter (67.6-million-square-feet) plot of land, every in a position to produce batteries with a capability of 43 gigawatt hours (GWh) yearly, in accordance with SK On on Tuesday.

 
The crops will begin manufacturing battery cells within the first quarter of 2025.
 
“BlueOval SK Battery Park will probably be on the core of the electrification of the North American auto market,” mentioned Jee Dong-seob, SK On president and CEO. “We count on SK On and Ford’s management within the world electrical automobile market to be solidified by BlueOval SK.”
 
SK On and Ford Motor Firm introduced in Could that it’ll make investments 10.2 trillion received ($7.7 billion) to construct three battery crops, with one in Tennessee and two in Kentucky. 
 
One other in Tennessee will probably be constructed on a 15.53-million-square-meter plot of land with Ford Motor Firm’s EV plant and break floor inside this 12 months.
 
When accomplished, the mixed capability of the three crops will probably be 129 GWh per 12 months, which will probably be sufficient to provide batteries to some 1.2 million EVs. 
 
SK On’s annual battery manufacturing capability is 77 GWh as of December. The corporate plans to up that to 500 GWh by finish of 2030 with the brand new crops.
 
BlueOval SK will even construct Elizabethtown Group and Technical School in a 42,000-square-foot plot of land in Glendale, Tennessee. The middle is anticipated to open in 2024, coaching the three way partnership’s staff about battery manufacturing.
 
“As each the biggest financial improvement undertaking in our state’s historical past and a part of the largest funding ever by Ford, this undertaking cements Kentucky’s standing as the electrical automobile battery manufacturing capital of america,” mentioned Andy Beshear, governor of Kentucky.
 
Executives from SK On and Ford Motor attended the bottom breaking ceremony, together with SK Group government vice chairman Chey Jae-won, SK On president Jee Dong-seob, BlueOval SK CEO David Hahm and Ford Motor Firm workforce improvement director Liliana Ramirez. Officers from the state of Kentucky, reminiscent of governor Andy Beshear, additionally attended. 
 
 
 
 

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]