LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kentucky landed another manufacturing operation related to electric vehicle batteries: a Christian County plant that will employ 562 people, state officials said Thursday.
Microvast Holdings Inc., a publicly traded battery technology company headquartered in Texas, will build the Hopkinsville plant to manufacture separators, a component of lithium-ion batteries.
The company said its proprietary technology produces separators that can withstand higher temperatures, which improves battery charging, range and lifespan.
"We're packing a lot of energy inside a car or a vehicle or a bus," Shane Smith, chief operating officer at Microvast, told Kentucky officials during a meeting Thursday. "And this separator basically increases that margin to safety to be able to extend the life of vehicles and range."
The plant will cost $504 million, according to the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority, which approved $21 million in public incentives for Microvast on Thursday.
Of that, $200 million will be covered by a U.S. Department of Energy grant awarded under President Biden’s 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Microvast’s Smith said.
He said the company was one of 21 recipients of grants, and that its technology has been vetted by General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis’ Chrysler.
The jobs will pay $25 per hour on average, a figure that includes not only cash wages but also the value of employee benefits, according to KEDFA staff.
Construction will start in 2023 and wrap up in 2025, according to Gov. Andy Beshear’s office.
"Kentucky continues to position itself as the top EV-related manufacturing location in the country," Beshear said in a news release. "We are committed to creating an environment where the industries of the future can grow and thrive right here in the commonwealth, and Microvast’s investment is a huge step toward that goal."
Since June 2020, Kentucky has notched $10.5 billion in announced EV-related investments, according to Beshear’s office.
Most significant is a pair of EV battery plants in Elizabethtown, which Ford and its Korean partner SK On are building at a cost of $5.8 billion. The plants are slated to begin production in 2025 and to employ 5,000 people.
