Dealing with Downtime
Layoffs are expected early next year as Ford begins retooling its plant, and Beshear says his team is trying to keep as any many of those worker employed as it can.
One big issue is the timeline, given that Ford will take more than a year to switch its operations over to support storage batteries after parting ways with South Korean partner SK On.
"We've got about 1,600, 1,700 current employees at BlueOval. They're going to be laid off because the BlueOval company will no longer exist. Ford is eventually going to hire 2,100 people, which is hundreds more than currently work at the facility," the governor said Thursday. "But the timing is what we're trying to get more clarity on because it's going to be, we think, about a 16-month period to take out the EV equipment and put in the battery storage equipment."
Beshear also took questions during his weekly briefing about hundreds of millions in incentives to Ford and whether the state can claw the money back if necessary. The governor said there are mechanisms in the contracts to reclaim the money if Ford doesn't make good on its end of the deal.
Political Fallout
While Beshear may be sounding cautiously optimistic that the project — and his larger bid to make Kentucky an EV battery hub — can be rescued, he's also pointing to the so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill," which ended federal EV tax incentives, as a reason for the companies shifting gears.
Prior to the layoff announcement, the governor laid the blame for job losses directly at the feet of President Donald Trump.
"Most of the people whose jobs are at risk voted for this president, but it appears he doesn't care and at least I hope that people see that," the Democrat told WUKY. "(U.S. Congressman) Brett Guthrie, whose district these battery plants are in, pushed the bill through and didn't push back on these provisions."
Guthrie has responded to his being singled by the governor, telling WHAS Beshear is trying to "satisfy a very liberal base" while laying the groundwork for a possible presidential run. The GOP representative went on to say public demand for EVs isn't there, describing the goal of the transition to the new vehicles as a "liberal pipe dream."
In response, the governor said, "Tell that to the 1,600 people at BlueOval who had secure jobs until he pushed through the big, ugly bill."