Electric battery company plans $2 billion factory in Bowling Green

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – A Japanese-based firm plans to invest $2 billion to build a factory in Bowling Green, creating 2,000 jobs making battery cells and modules for electric vehicles.

Envision AESC made the announcement Wednesday in Frankfort alongside Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and state leaders, who called it the second-largest economic development project in the state’s history.

It comes nearly seven months after Ford Motor Co. said it will create a $5.8 billion, 5,000-job electric battery plant in Hardin County to open in 2025.

With the new factory set for Bowling Green, Beshear said Kentucky is the “undisputed electric battery capital of the United States of America.”

The facility at Bowling Green’s Transpark industrial park would produce up to 300,000 electric vehicle batteries per year starting in 2027, Envision CEO Shoichi Matsumoto said. The company’s decision to locate in Kentucky is a “major milestone” in its U.S. expansion, he added.

“This first-phase development will unlock further large-scale investment to grow the local supply chain and develop opportunities around the life cycle of batteries, bringing economic renewal to the industrial heartland of this region,” Matsumoto said.

Officials say the batteries made in southcentral Kentucky would be more energy-efficient than current ones, lowering charging time and adding driving range. The factory would be supplied entirely by renewable energy generated onsite and bought from the Tennessee Valley Authority, according to a press release.

Envision is eligible for a forgivable loan of $116.8 million from the state based on achieving performance goals, said Brandon Mattingly, a spokesman for the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development. It also could qualify for $5 million in training funds from the Kentucky Community and Technical College System and the Bluegrass State Skills Corp.

In addition, the two-year state budget approved by the General Assembly included $46 million for the Inter-Modal Transportation Authority, the entity that oversees the Transpark, for water and sewer improvements.

And the state road plan set aside $7.7 million to “improve connectivity” to the Transpark from a local road in Warren County.

Senate President Robert Stivers, a Republican, joined Democrat Beshear and members of his administration in the announcement, saying the legislature used “vague language” in the budget to allocate funds after agreeing to nondisclosure agreements.

“This is a good day that shows that collaboration and cooperation can take place,” he said.

Envision says on its website that its lithium-ion batteries made in Japan, the U.S., and Europe have been installed in more than 600,000 electric vehicles with a “zero rate of critical malfunction.”

Envision also operates a battery plant in Smyrna, Tenn.