The conditional loan to Ford–SK On joint venture BlueOval will back another massive investment in the rapidly expanding Battery Belt taking shape in the Southeast.
The Biden administration has offered a record-breaking $9.2 billion conditional loan commitment to a Ford Motor Co. joint venture to help scale up domestic lithium-ion battery production for the U.S. electric vehicle market.
The Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office plans to offer the loan to BlueOval SK, a joint venture of Ford and South Korea–based battery maker SK On. It’s by far the largest amount yet in a string of LPO loans aimed at bolstering U.S. competitiveness in EV battery manufacturing, mining and materials production.
These industries have been supercharged by the tax incentives, grants and loans authorized under last year’s Inflation Reduction Act. Since the law was passed in August, investment in U.S. battery manufacturing has ballooned to more than $50 billion.
The Biden administration has made domestic battery production a key economic and national security focus. DOE’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program, which issued catalyz
