The US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced that it will make a $9.6bn loan to BlueOval SK (BOSK) to build three battery plants for Ford electric vehicles.

One factory is planned for Tennessee and two for Kentucky. When complete, these plants will be capable of producing 120GW/h of batteries a year, and will create 7,500 jobs.

A press release from the Biden administration states that the loan will allow America to reduce its reliance on “adversarial foreign nations like China”.

It is the largest loan granted through the DOE’s advanced technology vehicles manufacturing programme.

The BOSK joint venture is between Ford and Korea’s electric vehicle battery maker SK On, which will supply Ford and Lincoln products.

As part of the contract, BOSK will build community and technical colleges in both Kentucky and Tennessee to train members of the community for jobs on site.

Bosk is currently building Blue Oval City, an EV assembly complex near Stanton, Tennessee, that is due to become operational in 2025.