LOTTE
EV Battery Supplier Sets Up Operations in Kentucky
LOTTE is one of South Korea’s largest conglomerates, serving a wide variety of industries and employing more than 80,000 people. The company’s latest enterprise, a joint venture between LOTTE Chemical and LOTTE Aluminium, will supply partners in the electric vehicle (EV) industry with cathode foil—an integral component of lithium-ion batteries that power the vehicles.
LOTTE selected Gray to design and build the greenfield production plant on a 40-acre site in Elizabethtown, KY. At peak production capacity, the facility will produce 36,000 tons of cathode foil annually.
In Numbers
- Elizabethtown, KYLocation
- 327,243 s.f.Square Footage
- 14 monthsOperational
Gray’s scope for the project included engineering, pre-construction, BIM/VDC, and design-build services for the 327,000 s.f. production plant and several ancillary buildings, including corporate offices, a pump house, and waste storage space.
In addition to the design-build of the facility, Gray was responsible for process utilities including chilled water, air piping, oil piping, coolant tanks, and water chillers. The customer’s unique process equipment required Gray to pour 24″ reinforced concrete slabs to account for the equipment’s considerable weight. Other process equipment included bridge cranes, cooling oil tanks, an aluminum scrap collection and baling system, and an automatic storage & retrieval system (AS/RS).
As a result of the project’s successful execution, Gray and LOTTE were recognized by Associated General Contractors of Kentucky with the 2025 Build Kentucky Award.
“Gray’s integrated design-build approach, exacting quality standards, and outstanding project execution empowered the team to complete the project on time, within budget, and with an exemplary safety record—an impressive accomplishment for a project of this scope and complexity,” says Eunseong Chang, CEO of LOTTE Aluminium Materials USA. “Gray’s performance reflects the best of Kentucky’s construction industry and exemplifies why design-build delivery is so effective for fast-paced, technically complex projects.”
