Ford Gets $9.63 Billion Loan for BlueOval SK from US DOE – CleanTechnica

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Donald Trump may be the president-elect in the United States, but tons of Joe Biden policy is still alive and getting rolled out. As I’ve written recently, there actually seems to be a sprint to get as much implemented before Trump and Republicans take over. One of those items is a huge Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) loan for Ford from the US Department of Energy in order to help its transition to electric vehicles.

“As part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) today announced the closing of a direct loan of up to $9.63 billion to BlueOval SK LLC (BOSK) for the construction of up to three manufacturing plants to produce batteries for Ford Motor Company’s future Ford and Lincoln electric vehicles (EVs),” the Department of Energy (DOE) writes.

“Together, the plants, one located in Tennessee and two in Kentucky, would enable more than 120 gigawatt hours of U.S. battery production annually. The three facilities created more than 5,000 construction jobs as the plants were being built and will create up to 7,500 BOSK operations jobs. Today’s announcement—the largest loan granted through DOE’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Program (ATVM)—will help ensure the United States can meet domestic demand and remain a global leader in the rapidly expanding EV industry.”

It’s a huge step in the right direction for Ford, and I don’t think we should underestimate the role the US government is playing here to push Ford along and help with the US automaker’s very difficult move into an EV future.

Overall, as I’ve written several times, there has never been such big legislation focused on reshoring manufacturing jobs in the US. After decades of working-class and middle-class complaints about the US offshoring jobs, we finally got big legislation trying to bring it back, and it’s working. The DOE used this language in its announcement, too. “Today’s announcement reinforces President Biden’s historic efforts to onshore and re-shore domestic manufacturing and ensure American businesses remain global leaders in technologies of the future. Expanding domestic production of American-made batteries is critical to reducing America’s reliance on adversarial foreign nations like China, meeting the Nation’s domestic and international climate commitments, and achieving President Biden’s goal to make half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 zero-emissions vehicles.”

BOSK isn’t just a Ford entity, of course — Ford isn’t a battery producer historically. It’s a joint venture between Ford and the Korean company SK On, one of the largest battery producers in the world.

An interesting part of the mission of the Loan Programs Office and its requirements, borrowers have to include a genuine and comprehensive Community Benefits Plan  (CBP) as part of their work with the money. This is how the DOE describes Ford’s work in this regard: “As a part of their CBP, BlueOval SK has partnered with Tennessee College of Applied Technology through the state of Tennessee and Elizabethtown Community and Technical College in the state of Kentucky to construct new community and technical colleges that are training members of the community for quality jobs at the BOSK facilities.”

Overall, the ATVM, the LPO, and the Department of Energy as a whole have been accelerating the transition to electric vehicles and clean energy. This Ford loan is the biggest and highest profile, but the DOE notes that it “has attracted 212 applications for projects across the country totaling over $324.3 billion in requested loans and loan guarantees, as of November 2024,” across its LPO programs. Much good work is being done. Long may it continue.