Four years after Gov. Andy Beshear announced the largest economic development project in Kentucky history, the first electric vehicle battery rolled off the assembly line Tuesday morning at the BlueOval SK campus in Glendale.
The first of two megafactories is now producing batteries to power the all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning, according to a company news release. The Kentucky 1 plant will also produce batteries for Ford’s current E-Transit electric van with enhanced range.
“We are proud to build batteries at our Kentucky 1 facility that will power next-generation electric vehicles,” BlueOval SK CEO Michael Adams said. “The start of production is a significant milestone that strengthens our position in the electric vehicle battery market.”
The company teased the announcement on social media in the days leading up to the start of production.
In 2021, Gov. Andy Beshear, Ford Motor Co., and South Korea-based SK On announced plans to build two EV battery plants on 1,500 acres off I-65 in Hardin County. The $5.8 billion investment was projected to create 5,000 jobs, 1,450 of which are already filled. Softer than anticipated demand for electric vehicles nationwide has put hiring and production on hold at the second Glendale plant.
Still, Gov. Beshear said in a statement the start of operations at the Kentucky 1 plant solidifies the commonwealth as the EV battery production capital of the U.S.
“This remains the single largest investment in the history of our state, and it sparked a surge of new investment and job announcements that placed Kentucky at the center of EV-related innovation. I am grateful to Ford and SK On leaders for believing in Kentucky and our workforce. Now is the time to do what we do best as Kentuckians: deliver results.”
The start of production comes days after Ford announced a nearly $2 billion investment at the Louisville Assembly Plant to manufacture an all-new, electric mid-size pickup truck.
The production launch in Glendale comes exactly one week ahead of a union election at the Glendale battery park.
The National Labor Relations Board has scheduled Aug. 26-27 for an election that will determine whether hourly employees at the BlueOval SK plant will join the United Auto Workers Union, which represents Ford employees across the U.S.
The Glendale workers hope to build on the unionization victories of other battery employees across the country.
Earlier this year, a super-majority of the BlueOval SK workforce requested the vote out of concerns over plant safety and company management.
“It’s like these people are wearing horse blinders,” employee Halee Hadfield said in February. “They think it’s just about pay, it’s just about insurance, but it’s not. It’s about how you treat us as people and whether or not we come to work safe.”
Workers have claimed they’re exposed to fire, electrical, and chemical hazards on the job and their concerns have gone unnoticed.
BlueOval SK maintains its safety protocols are “robust and consistent, meeting industry standards and complying with stringent federal, state, and local regulations.”
The UAW is hoping to build on a victory by Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga in 2024, the first time the UAW was able to organize a plant in the U.S. South. Workers at the Ultium plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, also voted last year to unionize. The UAW, however, lost an organizing vote at two Mercedes-Benz factories in Alabama last year.
"I am a pro-union governor and always will be. My hope is the companies that are involved will stay neutral and let this be a true decision of the employees," Beshear said about the Glendale union election.
If a majority of workers vote in favor of the union in next week's election, the next step is negotiating a contract for what's projected to become the tenth largest manufacturing site in the world.
