Ford’s new Kentucky battery production plant taking shape

HARDIN COUNTY, Ky. (WAVE) - The BlueOvalSK Battery Park under construction in Hardin County is making progress.

The nearly $6 billion Ford and SK innovation are putting toward it is the largest economic development in the history of Kentucky.

The battery production plant is still years away from completion, but the cranes now towering the land are hard to miss.

BlueOval is a Ford subsidiary and SK is is a giant in South Korea’s energy sector.

Together, they’re creating something Kentucky’s never seen before that will result in 5,000 jobs that need to be filled.

Those 5,000 people will need to be trained.

That’s why a brand new campus of Elizabethtown Community and Technical College will be created on the grounds of the battery plant.

”Everything that we do is going to be new ground,” ECTC President Juston Pate said, “because in this area of central Kentucky, there has never been a training facility on site with this type of development.”

Even Hardin County Schools will have a hand to play.

They’ve already have a history of manufacturing partnerships, just not on this scale.

“I think this is actually going to lend itself really well to helping Ford have success here in Hardin County,” Lisa Slaven of HCS said, “because we are experienced in that areas. We’ll be able to help them get the workforce that they need.”

Governor Andy Beshear said this is what will help Kentucky stay ahead of the game.

“The world and the economy is really changing fast right now,” Beshear said, “and what you’re seeing here today and how we’re going to train people is going to ensure that we lead in that future economy.”

Construction of the plant is expected to be complete in 2025.

The ECTC campus could be sometime in 2024.

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