Ford taps Detroit contractor to build huge Kentucky battery plants

DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. has hired another Detroit area general contractor to build a massive plant in the South.

The automaker — which rankled some with its decision to construct a trio of plants producing EVs and batteries totaling more than $11 billion outside of its home state — on Wednesday named Barton Malow Co. as well as Lexington, Ky.-based Gray Construction as contractors on the Blue Oval SK Battery Park.

"Barton Malow is excited to play a role in helping Ford accelerate America's shift to electric vehicles," Barton Malow CEO Ryan Maibach said in an email Wednesday afternoon. He said his Detroit area company is bringing in Gray Construction to "leverage their extensive understanding of the local market."

Last month, Ford said Detroit-based contractor The Walbridge Group was building the $5.6 billion Blue Oval City project in Stanton, Tenn. northeast of Memphis, where electric F-Series trucks and batteries will be produced.

Automotive News reported last year that the $5.8 billion Blue Oval SK Battery Park, to be built on 1,500 acres in Glendale about an hour south of Louisville, would feature a pair of plants opening in 2025 and 2026 with some 5,000 jobs churning out advanced lithium-ion batteries.

Ford's share for the plants is $7 billion while Korea-based SK Innovation is spending $4.4 billion for a total $11.4 billion investment.

The contractors are holding its first subcontractor informational meeting in Elizabethtown, Ky. on Thursday.

"Ford, SK Innovation, Barton Malow and Gray are all committed to hiring a diverse local workforce to build the BlueOval SK Battery Park and this is the first step in ensuring that Kentuckians will be part of creating a new era of advanced manufacturing for this country," Greg Christensen, director of Ford electric vehicle footprint manufacturing, said in a statement.

The announcement that the plants would go to states other than Michigan caused some consternation that the homegrown automaker didn't put them in the state where it was born and headquartered. The state's top economic development official said Michigan was "not actively involved" in the process for selecting the locations.