Thanks to its strong milling and agriculture industry, Christian County is already known as the “Batter Capital of the World.”
So what if regional officials bought a “Y,” and it was also known as the “Battery Capital of the World”?
It’s a notion DeeAnna Sova, equity program manager for the incoming Ascend Elements, pushed during Thursday morning’s Christian County Chamber of Commerce Industry & Economic Eye Opener Breakfast at Oak Grove’s Valor Hall.
First, she said Ascend Elements has to focus on high-quality, good-paying clean energy jobs, and the company has pledged to pay an average $58,000/year at the height of its production capabilities.
Workforce development programs, she said, are another promised pillar — especially through Gateway Academy, Hopkinsville Community College, Murray State University, the 101st Airborne Division and many other outlets.
She added that Ascend Elements is also currently involved with supporting affordable child care in Hopkinsville, and remains at the table discussing better mass/family transportation options for Christian County and the surrounding area.
David Steiner, Apex senior program manager for Ascend Elements, is one of the many surveying the company’s construction and expansion — which has long broken ground in the rapidly-growing Commerce Park II.
By putting their patented hydro-to-cathode battery creation and recycling into mass production, Steiner assured Ascend Elements would be operational by the fourth quarter of this year. Its construction will create more than 9,300 temporary jobs along the supply chain, and 400 full-time employees will be required for the first and second phases of the complex.
Construction is also already ongoing for phase two, he said, which will bring about more jobs and potentially more research and development. More than 1,000 direct and indirect jobs, he said, will come through needed maintenance, gardening, suppliers, housekeeping and more.
More than $370 million in capital spending will occur in the next 18 months, and over the next decade, Steiner said west Kentucky officials should expect more than $4.4 billion in total economic impact.
For the second time this week, South Western Kentucky Economic Development Council Executive Director Carter Hendricks urged leaders to take in one simple fact: that within 200 miles of Hopkinsville, more than $17 billion has recently been spent and 15,000 jobs planned for the developing of an electric vehicle battery industry and its infrastructure.
Hendricks noted a number of companies in the area — including Casey Jones Distillery, Novelis and others — have remained diligent with expansion and stalwart consistency, but that it was imperative for Christian County to be involved in this growing EV industry.
Other expansions and developments in south western Kentucky include, but are not limited to: Toyota Boshoku, Microvast, Legacy Metals, Delavan Ag Pumps and Rural King.
