Integrity Automotive LLC has announced plans to build an $84 million facility on 225 acres in the Franklin Industrial Park that will manufacture low-speed electric vehicles.
Once operational, the plant will create approximately 4,000 full-time jobs over the course of the first four years. The average hourly wage plus benefits for the new jobs is approximately $20 per hour, exclusive of benefits.
The project is a partnership between Integrity and electric car manufacturer Zero Air Pollution (ZAP), a company that has been looking to find ways to expand its manufacturing operations, which are currently based in China.
Last month, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority approved a tax incentive package worth up to $48 million in an effort to entice Integrity to locate its new North American facility in the commonwealth.
“This represents an investment not only in Kentucky’s economy but also in the future of this country,” said Gov. Steve Beshear. “The long-term security and economic health of this nation depends in part on its ability to become energy independent. This plant, and the vehicles it’s designed to produce, could be an important part of that strategy. These are good, high-paying jobs, the kind that have been so important to this state over many years and are even more important in this tough economic period.”
Beshear has also signed an executive order permitting the use of low-speed electric vehicles on Kentucky highways with a posted speed limit of 45 mph or less, an action that Integrity and ZAP officials acknowledged was critical to their decision in choosing Kentucky over Indiana for their new facility.
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