WASHINGTON The U.S. Energy Department on Thursday said it intends to loan a joint venture of Ford Motor and South Korean battery maker SK On up to $9.2 billion to help finance construction of three new battery manufacturing plants in Tennessee and Kentucky.

The conditional commitment for the low-cost government loan for the Blue Oval SK joint venture comes from the government's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program. SK On is a unit of South Korea's SK Innovation. The joint venture is building battery manufacturing facilities in Kentucky and Tennessee capable of collectively producing more than 80 gigawatt hours annually.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Toby Chopra)