Panasonic have announced that they will be building a new electric vehicle battery factory in Kansas that will produce and supply Tesla with its new 4680 cells.
The choice was between two potential sites, one in Kansas and one in Oklahoma, before it decided to settle with the former due to its proximity to Texas and favorable tax treatment. Panasonic says it will invest approximately $4 billion into the site and that it will create up to 4,000 new jobs.
Panasonic has said that they aim to triple or quadruple EV battery production capacity across all its facilities by the 2028 fiscal year from the current level of 50 gigawatt-hours per year.
This plan will see it install two production lines at the battery component factory in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan in the 2023 fiscal year. This investment alone is worth $580 million and will see the Japanese site also manufacturing the 4680 cells.
The increasing production demands from Tesla were a significant factor in its decision to establish a new factory in the U.S.
“As the largest private investment in Kansas history and one of the largest EV battery manufacturing plants of its kind in the country, this project will be transformative for our state’s economy, providing in total 8,000 high-quality jobs that will help more Kansans create better lives for themselves and their children.” commented Kansas Governor Laura Kelly.
“Winning this project has shown that Kansas has what it takes to compete on a global scale — and that our pro-business climate is driving the technological innovation needed to achieve a more prosperous and sustainable future.”
Panasonic currently operates the Gigafactory 1 in Nevada alongside Tesla. The technology company invested approximately $1.455 billion into this facility.
Several battery and car manufacturers have announced plans for new factories throughout the US in recent months. LG and General Motors will spend a combined $2.6 billion on a new plant in Michigan and LG solutions will also build a new factory in Arizona.
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