Glendale Ky. — U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg toured a Ford EV battery plant site in Kentucky on Friday.
The secretary’s latest trip to Kentucky was somewhat abbreviated when compared to his tour of UPS Worldport in December, but similarly Buttigieg is once again giving credit to the Beshear administration.
“It’s truly impressive when you see leadership that understands the importance of infrastructure, understands taking the long view and it’s paying off in terms of these good paying local jobs,” Buttigieg said Friday.
Ford projects the Blue Oval Battery Plant will create 5,000 jobs, supported by a training partnership with Elizabethtown Community and Technical College.
Buttigieg took this opportunity to tout manufacturing job creation under the Biden administration. “800,000 manufacturing jobs have already been created in the U.S. since President Biden took office and that’s only going to increase as more of the EV and EV related plants under construction come online.”
The expansive multi-billion dollar facility located south of Elizabethtown along I-65 is expected to begin production of lithium-ion batteries in 2025.
“I think this is a major feather in Kentucky’s cap and does position Kentucky to be a global leader in a growing global sector of the automotive industry,” Buttigieg said.
When asked if he believes Kentucky is capable of offering a substantial EV charging highway network the secretary offered this, “Kentucky has put forward a plan, we’ve approved it and we are now funding it through funds through the bipartisan infrastructure law to start getting those chargers in place where they don’t already exist.”
Ford reports construction of the 2.3-square-mile manufacturing plant is on schedule.