GLENDALE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The nearly $6 billion BlueOval SK battery park is hard to miss from Interstate 65, just past the Glendale exit in Hardin County. The massive twin plants, Kentucky 1 and Kentucky 2, each measure 4 million square feet.
Michael Adams, CEO of BlueOval SK, may not be behind the wheel of an electric vehicle yet but he is behind the wheel of a multibillion-dollar electric vehicle battery company.
"Well, there's a complicated story behind that, but I actually plan to (drive an EV) when we put our batteries into market," he said.
BlueOval SK is a joint venture between American automaker Ford and South Korean conglomerate SK On. By the end of this year, the company plans to begin making the batteries for Ford's EV fleet at plants in Tennessee and Kentucky. Adams agreed recently with Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who claimed the commonwealth is the EV capital of America.
"Let me tell you about my first experience," Adams said. "... I got in a car and I came down at night and I drove past the plant. And it's the first time that I've seen the plant. I've seen battery plants elsewhere but definitely not this size. And, of course, it was night. It was under construction. It was surrounded by the the white construction lights. And I came over at 222 and I was just in awe. I was in awe of these two huge buildings that are really part of an industry that's going to really change the automotive industry going forward."
WDRB was invited and granted exclusive video access -- the first time media was allowed inside access to the plant.
"We appreciate you coming down here," Adams told WDRB's Dalton Godbey. "(This is the) first time we've had a reporter inside taking actual video."
Inside one of the two plants, more than 1,000 people are preparing for production, scheduled to begin in 2025.
"We will be producing in the second half of 2025," Adams said. "We're now in the process of validating that equipment, running those samples and putting those samples into test through the automotive process, to ensure that they meet the quality standards that we can start to ship. In the meantime, we will continue to operate and to run and to practice and to train our employees so that when those tests pass, we can then start working with our customer to start shipping our product."
Adams wouldn't commit to a definitive start date for production.
The state of Kentucky agreed to give BlueOval an interest-free loan of $250 million if the company employs 2,500 people by 2026 and 5,000 by 2030.
While the timeline for "Kentucky 1" appears solid, production at the second plant, "Kentucky 2" has been delayed.
"Well, it's still about growth," Adams said. "So it's going to grow. And, like I said, I still see — or the market sees — even growth in 2025 even with the current administration potentially making some incentive changes. Certainly, those incentive changes, depending on how they go, will also affect that rate of growth. So we're we're watching that closely. But whether it's 2031 or 2039, at some point in time, 60% of the market will be EV-based for sure.
"In the end, that will be a market decision. The market is telling us Kentucky 2 is not ready."
Despite the uncertainty, Adams said the company is focused on the work at hand.
"Whether you're actually building the battery or you're supporting business into our facility, you're going to be part of that transformation," he said. "And whether that transformation is quick or whether that transformation is slow, it's coming and it will be here. And everybody has a part to be that."
'We will unionize'
Some of those helping to build the battery plants are voicing concerns about working conditions.
"I made a lot of good friends. I've met a lot of good people," Chad Johnson, who works at the plant, said. "Honestly, if it wasn't for that, I don't know if I'd still be there."
"I personally was exposed to our electrolyte last week or the week before, because the practices are so unsafe," another employee, Amber Levay, said. "Because there's so much chaos, management can only tell us what their boss tells them, and they only know what their boss tells them, and so on, so on and so forth."
"We came back from Christmas break and the smell of mold was just making people sick," Johnson said. "There's two people my department that went to the ER over it."
BlueOval employees have filed numerous safety complaints, and the state has launched 12 investigations at the plant. So far, only one violation was issued — against the general contractor, Barton Malow, which is contesting the $6,700 fine.
"We talk to our employees and we don't want to be out addressing every claim that goes forward," Adams said. "What we like to do is we like to speak about facts. So, for instance, we've had 23 OSHA complaints. We've had zero violations. And that's the types of facts that we like to mention. For instance, we have three labor relationship board complaints. We've had zero violations. That is our goal. You know, maybe we make a mistake and we own up to that mistake. But our goal is to meet all federal, state, commonwealth and local guidelines for safety, exceed them and put those into our training and make sure that our employees are safe."
The company said safety is its top priority. New hires complete seven weeks of training and progress through four safety levels. Every job is reviewed by safety engineers.
"I don't want to just give up and roll over because it's unpleasant," one employee said. "I want to make it better. I want it to make a place that we can all be proud of, like working at and be, like 'Yeah, look, we made those batteries, and it was great, and it's a great job. And you should come apply and you should work with us.'"
Still, talks of unionization are already underway.
"We are a startup company, and we're just in the process of building parts, and we need to move quickly -- and we need to react quickly -- and we feel the best way to do that is to have that direct communication line with our employees that we all have one voice going forward after we talk through things and that we can hit our objectives that we need for our customers," Adams said. "We feel we can do that best with a direct relationship. Certainly, a union coming in adds a layer to that that we would rather not have as we're growing this company. We understand that some may feel that they can be better represented by the union. We respect their opinion, but, certainly, as a management team, we believe that the employee and the company are working together under a direct relationship."
Johnson said unionization might be for the best of the company.
"Every one of us want this company to succeed even though they seem to think because we wear this red shirt or this black hat that we have a different stance, that we don't want this company to succeed," he said. "That'd be foolish. If this company don't succeed, we don't succeed."
Workers publicly launched a campaign to join the UAW last year and are pushing for a vote. During WDRB's recent visit, some employees wore "no vote" badges, and flyers linking unionized plants to safety issues have circulated at the plant.
"Absolutely," Robert Colette, another employee, said when asked whether a vote will happen.
"We will unionize, beyond a shadow of a doubt," Johnson added.
Regardless of the outcome or market uncertainty, one thing was clear: The people working inside the largest economic development project in Kentucky's history are focused on building world-class batteries.
"Our mission is to build (and) be part of the EV industry growth, to make that transformation from the gasoline engines to the the electric vehicle, and that we play a very important part of that by producing," Adams said. "Really, in my mind, the most important part is the battery that's associated with it."
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Mold rampant at Ford's Kentucky EV battery site, workers say
Michael Adams, CEO of BlueOval SK, speaks to WDRB News. (WDRB Media graphic)
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