Dive Brief:
- Electric vehicle battery manufacturer BlueOval SK, the joint venture of Ford Motor Co. and SK On now undergoing dissolution, has delayed some of the planned layoffs at the manufacturing facility in Glendale, Kentucky, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filed with the state on Feb 12.
- The layoffs of roughly 1,500 workers at the plant were originally expected to begin in a two-week period starting on Feb. 14, but the additional layoffs of around 10% of the plant's remaining workers is not expected to start until March 31, according to BlueOval SK filing.
- The winding down of operations at the Kentucky plant follows a mutual agreement between Ford and SK On announced in December to dissolve the BlueOval SK joint venture due to lower than expected EV demand.
Dive Insight:
Roughly three dozen of the 150 retained workers at the Kentucky plant are listed as controls manufacturing process engineers and production supervisors, according to the WARN notice.
The BlueOval SK joint venture was established in September 2021 as part of a planned $11.4 billion investment by the two companies to build three large-scale manufacturing plants in the U.S., one in Tennessee and two in Kentucky, to produce advanced batteries for Ford’s future EVs.
The Kentucky plant started initial battery production in August 2025, according to a press release.
When the plans were announced in September 2021, Ford said its BlueOval City complex in Tennessee would be the largest single investment in EVs in the U.S. by any automotive manufacturer. But with slowing demand, Ford does not need the additional battery production capacity it previously anticipated and announced in December that it was scaling back its EV plans.
The automaker announced it was repurposing the Kentucky battery plant to manufacture 5 MWh+ advanced battery energy storage systems for data centers, utilities and large-scale industrial and commercial customers and create a new, diversified revenue stream for Ford. The company plans to invest around $2 billion in the next two years to scale its energy storage business and hire 2,100 workers. A wholly owned Ford subsidiary will own and operate the plant, Ford spokesperson Jessica Enoch said in an email to WardsAuto.
As part of the mutual agreement to dissolve the BlueOval SK joint venture, each company will independently own and operate the joint venture’s former production facilities, SK spokesperson Joe Guy Collier told WardsAuto in December. Collier said that a Ford subsidiary will take full ownership of the two battery plants in Kentucky, and SK On will assume full ownership and operate the plant in Tennessee.
The BlueOval SK Battery Park in Kentucky was originally slated to begin series production of advanced lithium-ion batteries late last year. But Ford announced plans last year to delay its EV launches in order to expand its hybrid vehicle offerings. However, Collier told WardsAuto in December that SK maintains its strategic relationship with Ford going forward, as the Tennessee plant that it’s taking ownership of is located within the automaker’s BlueOval City campus.
Ford, however, did not entirely abandon its EV plans. The automaker is currently working on a low-cost electric truck built on its new Universal Electric Vehicle platform. The midsize electric pickup is due to launch in 2027 with a target starting price of around $30,000. The vehicle will be built at Ford’s assembly plant in Louisville.
In addition to the job cuts in Kentucky, SK Battery America, which is a subsidiary of South Korea-based SK On, is also laying off hundreds of workers at its production facility in Commerce, Georgia. Earlier this month, The producer of nickel-cobalt-manganese lithium-ion battery cells filed a WARN notice in Georgia, notifying the state of layoffs impacting 958 workers at the plant.
SK Battery America also notified its workers in Georgia that they will receive pay and benefits for the next 60 days.
Ford in December also terminated its multi-billion dollar supply deal with South Korea-based LG Energy Solution for 75 gigawatt hours of battery cells for its electric vehicles in Europe. The value of the supply contract was worth 9.6 trillion won ($6.5 billion).
Correction: This story was updated to clarify the decision to dissolve BlueOval SK was made jointly by Ford and SK On, and to add additional context provided by Ford.
