(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Jang Ha-na: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has given final approval for a policy support loan of 14 trillion won for BlueOval SK, a battery production joint venture between SK On and Ford.
On the 13th (local time), the U.S. Department of Energy announced that it had finally approved a policy loan of 9.63 billion dollars (approximately 13.8 trillion won) for BlueOval SK. The interest rate will be at the level of the U.S. Treasury rate.
This financial support is provided under the Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) program.
ATVM is a program that offers low-interest loans to businesses manufacturing automobiles and related parts, established under the U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act in 2007.
BlueOval SK received conditional approval for borrowing under the ATVM program last June, and after undergoing various eligibility assessments in areas such as technology, market influence, finance, and law, it completed the contract.
As a result, the establishment of BlueOval SK’s battery production plants in the U.S. is expected to proceed as planned.
BlueOval SK is constructing a total of three plants in the U.S., including Kentucky Plants 1 and 2 and the Tennessee plant, with sequential commercial operation (SOP) starting next year.
Upon completion, the plants are expected to have a production capacity of over 120GWh (gigawatt-hours), sufficient to produce about 1.2 million electric vehicles annually, assuming each vehicle uses a 100kWh (kilowatt-hour) battery.
hanajjang@yna.co.kr