A joint venture between SK Innovation and Ford Motor will spend $11.4 billion to build what the firms say will be the largest auto battery manufacturing operation in the US. SK, a South Korean oil, chemical, and battery firm, and Ford will each own half of the venture, to be called BlueOvalSK. The venture will initially have two sites: a plant at Ford’s planned Blue Oval City electric vehicle complex in Tennessee will be able to produce 43 GW h of batteries per year, and a facility in central Kentucky will have 86 GW h of capacity. In total, the firms say, BlueOvalSK will be able to make 1 million electric vehicle batteries per year. SK’s US battery division is already building a 21.5 GW h facility in Georgia to supply firms such as Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai Motor. Ford and SK intend to become the leading US makers of electric