Gov. Andy Beshear announced that Kentucky and Ford Motor Company have reached a new agreement regarding the future of a Hardin County manufacturing facility after the company announced in December it would convert the plant from producing electric vehicle batteries to manufacturing batteries for energy storage systems.

In his weekly press conference Thursday, Beshear said his administration had worked with Ford for several weeks on the agreement regarding the plant in Glendale, with Ford planning to make a new $2 billion investment in the facility to create 2,100 jobs.

Under the loan agreement, Ford is targeting 5,000 jobs, and if they don't hit that benchmark, Kentucky will receive some of its money back in accordance to how many jobs they fall short. Kentucky had offered $250 million in public monies for the original BlueOval SK operation.

Ford will "assume all the obligations under the original transaction," Beshear said. Ford has also agreed to work with the state on ways to support the Elizabethtown Community and Technical College training facility in Glendale.

The deal comes after months of disruption for the $5.8 billion BlueOval SK battery manufacturing partnership between Ford and South Korea-based SK On, which announced it was ending the joint venture. The Kentucky plant started initial battery production in August 2025 but was idled just months later when Congress ended the $7,500 tax credits to buy electric vehicles and made changes to a manufacturing credit program that denied tax credits to projects owned by foreign entities, while EV sales declined.

Under the conversion plan, the Glendale plant would "serve the rapidly growing battery energy storage systems market" and deploy at least 20 gigawatt-hours annually of energy storage batteries by late 2027. A Ford subsidiary, Ford Energy, plans to hire 2,100 workers and start production in late 2027.

"It is great news for Ford. It's great news for Hardin County. It's going to take a little longer to get here, but listen, when you've got adversity, you've got to work through it to get the best result you can," Beshear said.