Ford has received a huge, $9.2 billion loan from the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) for the construction of three manufacturing plants that will produce batteries for electric vehicles built under the Ford and Lincoln brands.

The loan is the biggest the US government has ever awarded to a carmaker since the 2009 bailouts, according to Bloomberg, being more than triple the size of the $2.5 billion loan received by General Motors last year.

Ford will use the money to build the so-called BlueOval City project which is made in collaboration with cell maker SK Innovation and will spawn two battery-producing facilities in Central Kentucky and another one in West Tennessee.