My newspaper, in an article written by Bruce Schreiner of the AP, reports that EnerBlu (a company that I never heard of), a lithium battery manufacturer located in Riverside, CA, will be building a new battery factory in Pikeville, Kentucky, located in the eastern part of the state, which is apparently a depressed coal mining area. They will be investing $372 million in a new battery factory there and plan to create 875 full-time jobs at the facility. They will also move their headquarters, R&D and executive jobs to Lexington, Kentucky. That development will be worth another $40 million. The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority has given preliminary approval for incentives worth up to $30 million over 15 years to secure this move.
The Pikeville plant will manufacture rechargeable lithium titanate batteries that power transit buses, commercial trucks, military vehicles and other equipment. Construction is scheduled to start in mid-2018, with the opening of the factory in 2020. The new HQ building is expected to open early next year.