LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The electric vehicle battery plant is one step closer to completion.
According to a press release, Gov. Andy Beshear as well as Elizabethtown Community and Technical College (ECTC) BlueOval SK and Ford representatives gathered to break ground at the training center on Tuesday.
The 42,000-foot facility will train thousands of workers to work in Ford's electric vehicle plant currently under construction.
According to Beshear, since June of 2020, Kentucky has seen over $10 billion invested in Kentucky's electric vehicle industry and it has created thousands of good-paying jobs in the Commonwealth.
"Kentucky now has over 46,000 jobs more than we had before the pandemic; we're not just bouncing back we're moving forward and not letting that pandemic impact the future of our kids and the opportunities that are going to be there for them," he said.
Ford said the plant will employ 5,000 Kentuckians.
"In order to produce those batteries we need a workforce trained in the latest battery and advanced manufacturing technologies and that's why we're developing this training center," Liliana Ramirez, global director of workforce development at Ford, said.
During a special session in September 2021, the General Assembly allocated $25 million for the project according to the release.
Ford and BlueOval SK broke ground on the Battery Park in December 2022.
The training center is set to open sometime next year.
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