GLENDALE, Kentucky — Emily Drueke is "heartbroken" this Valentine's Day — not because of her love life, but because that's the layoff date for her and her husband as Ford Motor Co.'s joint-venture battery plant in Kentucky lets 1,600 workers go.

"I am depressed about it, because I view a lot of my own worth based off of what I can provide, not only for myself, but for my family," said Drueke, 28, of Elizabethtown, who started working at the plant more than two years ago in the incoming quality control department.

Drueke enjoyed her co-workers at BlueOvalSK Battery Park in Glendale, an unincorporated community about an hour south of Louisville. She adopted a cat that had been prowling around the property. She was excited about the promise of thousands of new jobs in the county where she grew up, a higher pay scale than where she previously was at GE Appliances and an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a startup billed as the automotive industry's future with major names backing it. She hoped to retire from BOSK.

"But clearly that's not gonna happen now," she said.

In December, Ford announced it was dissolving the joint venture with South Korean battery partner SK On Ltd. and retaining ownership of the two battery-plant site in Kentucky. As a part of a $19.5 billion plan to redeploy multiple assets that had been slated to contribute to electric vehicle production, the Dearborn automaker said it would invest $2 billion to retool the one operating Kentucky battery plant to produce batteries for stationary energy storage applications, as EV sales were missing sales expectations amid affordability, charging access and pullback of federal support.

A majority of the $19.5 billion cost in special items fell in the fourth quarter of 2025, though the $6 billion attributed to the dissolution of BOSK was set to be split evenly between 2025 and 2026-27. Ford reported a full-year net loss of $8.2 billion on Tuesday.

Drueke said she was at a movie with her husband, who also works at the plant, when she first heard the layoff plans through phone calls and messages from family and friends. It also was the last day the couple had to back out of buying a house.

"We lost both," Drueke said. "And then Christmas is a week later."

The wholly Ford owned Ford Energy subsidiary that will operate the plant is taking 18 months to retool for industrial energy storage, though it eventually could produce residential products as well. Following the investment, it would be a $7.8 billion project.

It plans to hire more than 2,100 workers with room to expand, and BOSK employees are eligible to be rehired. BOSK had committed to 5,000 jobs at the site.

"If they're doing that, why did they just lay off 1,600 people?" said Drueke, noting she was in training for months before the start of production in August. "They could have just retrained us."

The move to battery storage seeks higher-return opportunities, as projections for EV sales fall from roughly half of the U.S. new-vehicle market in 2030 to less than 20%.

"BlueOval SK was originally intended to be a long-term endeavor," Ford spokesperson Jessica Enoch said in a statement. "We are listening to customers and evaluating the market as it is today, not as everyone predicted it would be five years ago. We appreciate the dedication and hard work of BlueOval SK’s employees."

Approximately 155 BlueOval SK employees will have their employment extended to at least March 31 to assist with the operation of the plant until it's handed over to Ford.

"We are proud of our team members who stood up BlueOval SK in three short years and started production," BlueOval SK spokesperson Mallory Cooke said in a statement. "The decision by Ford and SK On to restructure the joint venture is not a reflection of BlueOval SK’s production quality or performance. Rather, it’s a strategic decision that allows each company to focus on its core strengths in support of its long-term goals and success.

The Detroit News left a request for comment about the layoffs with the United Auto Workers, which had an organizing election last year at the plant in which the union claimed a narrow victory.

Focus on 'survival'

Ford isn't alone in altering battery plant plans. General Motors Co. pulled out of a battery plant project in Delta Township near Lansing through Ultium Cells, its joint venture with LG Energy Solution. Chrysler parent Stellantis NV recently exited its NextStar Energy joint venture in Windsor with LGES, which has emphasized new flexibility for the facility, including for energy storage systems. In west Michigan's Holland, LGES is also pivoting some capacity to stationary energy storage.

"It’s a good solution for now to utilize that battery manufacturing that they spent tens of billions of dollars on," said Sam Abuelsamid, vice president of market research at automotive communications firm Telemetry Group. "The Detroit automakers had some fundamental issues with some of their product planning around EVs with too much emphasis on expensive, large trucks and SUVs that are not the optimal use case for EV powertrains. They're too expensive and require too much battery and are not very efficient."

Ford has shifted focus, nixing plans for a next-generation all-electric three-row SUV, full-size truck and commercial van. Next year, it will launch production of a midsize truck starting at $30,000 on its new Universal EV Platform and Production System at Louisville Assembly Plant. The goal is affordability and being able to compete with low-cost Chinese EVs that are eating up market share globally.

The batteries for that truck will come from BlueOval Battery Park Michigan in Marshall that sits in the south-central part of the state. That plant is less than half the size of each of the two battery plants in Glendale, and Ford has suggested there still could be capacity there for additional energy storage system products.

Although Ford may be seeking to survive in a shifting industry, the impacts have left some BOSK workers with their primary concern as "survival," said Halee Hadfield, 27, of Rineyville, who also worked in incoming quality control and would've marked two years at BOSK this week.

"I know the general consensus is frustrated," Hadfield said. "I would say pissed off, actually, might be more accurate."

BOSK told most employees not to return to the plant in mid-December. Hadfield has applied to 40 jobs, including nearly a dozen at a job fair organized to support BOSK workers. She heard back from two, but doesn't have a position yet and is now looking at out-of-pocket health care options.

Ford's plans to hire at the plant, she said, haven't offered her much consolation, as she fears she'll be blacklisted because of her efforts to organize her co-workers with the UAW.

Amanda East, 45, of Clarkston took the job in incoming quality control at BOSK to get out of her house and is grateful her husband's job can support the household, but she has been working with the union on efforts to ensure her co-workers who might be in more vulnerable positions are heard: "Everybody’s competing for the same jobs. There are not enough jobs in the area, unless you're willing to travel. Not everybody has the means to travel. We’re stuck."

There's nothing more that Derek Dougherty wants than to walk down the halls of that building with a smile on his face. The job was his "golden ticket," he said, after facing homelessness throughout his life. More than six months ago, he gave up a higher-paying job in the steel industry for a better schedule and safer work conditions with a 3-year-old daughter and now another child on the way.

"I looked at it as: I have the experience, this is a new developing industry, and there's so much investment in the community," said the 28-year-old resident of Elizabethtown, who worked as a process operator in the module department. "I was just like there's no way that this is going to go anywhere, surely. But here we are."

'Bright light shining'

Ford and Kentucky remain in negotiations over amendments to the $250 million loan agreement for the site, according to Gov. Andy Beshear's office. It would require the state to receive a portion of the loan back if the automaker doesn't meet the project numbers.

"I am confident that Ford’s new plan to make storage batteries will be successful and support thousands of jobs in the commonwealth," Beshear said in a statement.

Nearly 700 attendees participated in a recent job fair for the BOSK workers with more than 60 employers, Beshear said in an update earlier this month. Fifteen received job offers there, and more than 550 employees were scheduled for follow-ups of the more than 900 interviews conducted.

About half of the affected workers are Hardin County residents, said Keith Taul, the county's judge/executive.

“We are working closely with our partners across local and state agencies to assist those impacted by BOSK’s closure announcement in December,” he said in a statement. “While this transition is difficult for those families impacted, we are encouraged by Ford’s recent commitments and remain confident in Kentucky’s long-standing, positive relationship with the company.”

The goal is to ensure every BOSK worker finds a job, said Andy Games, president and chief operating officer at the Elizabethtown Hardin County Industrial Foundation.

"On the other side of the doorway, there's a bright light shining that is Ford Motor Co.," Games said. "When the marketplace changes, sometimes you just have to make big, big plans and big changes. We're very optimistic."

Mike Bell, a former minister and executive director of the Glendale Lions Club, which he calls the unofficial town board, wasn't optimistic about the battery park when it was announced, given the change it meant for the small community he's resided in since 1970.

"But now it's Ford that's here, and Ford is saying, 'What can we do?'" Bell said. "They were wanting to make a financial, visual, visible contribution to the community. It's not going to help those people who lost their jobs, because that's heartbreaking. But what it's going to be is the future of this plant out here is not going to be the world's largest flea market. Ford's going to make it go. I think it's a positive hope for our community for the future."

Drueke and her husband are forging a path forward. He recently received a job offer. Although she hasn't found a part-time job, she is returning to school for nursing, influenced by her time at BOSK.

"The job that I had was testing all incoming material," she said. "It was kind of lab-esque, lab-adjacent, and it made me re-fall in love with science, and I also realized that the one thing that I wish that I had more at that job was getting to communicate with more people and be around people.

"Everything happens for a reason. And maybe there is something better out there for me that I just didn't know was meant for me yet."

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