Ford Motor and JV partner SK On finalized $9.6B loan for EV battery plants

The U.S. Energy Department announced that it finalized a $9.63 billion loan to a joint venture of Ford Motor (NYSE:F) and South Korean battery maker SK On to help finance construction of three new battery manufacturing plants in Tennessee and Kentucky.

The government loan for the BlueOval SK joint venture was noted to be the largest ever from the government’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing loan program. The loan’s interest rate is equal to the U.S. Treasury-equivalent yield curve with zero credit spread.

The plants will produce batteries for Ford Motor Company’s (NYSE:F) future Ford and Lincoln electric vehicles. The three facilities are anticipated to create more than 5,000 construction jobs as the plants were being built and will create up to 7,500 operations jobs for the BlueOval SK LLC joint venture.

Shares of Ford Motor (F) are down 10.2% over the last six weeks.