Historical partner of Tesla, the Japanese Panasonic will build a new battery factory in Kansas, in the United States. The equipment manufacturer should invest 4 billion dollars but for the moment no production date has been announced.
Panasonic will invest $4 billion in a new battery factory in the United States.
The Japanese equipment manufacturer Panasonic announced, Thursday, July 14, 2022, plans to invest around 4 billion dollars to build in the United States, in the state of Kansas, its second factory of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles.
“With the increasing electrification of the automotive market, developing battery production in the United States is crucial to meet the demand“, said Kazuo Tadanobu, head of the Panasonic Energy division quoted in the press release. “This project will transform the Kansas economy“, welcomed the governor of this Midwestern state, Laura Kellyalso cited in the press release from the Japanese group.
To be built in De Soto, on the edge of Kansas City, the plant could create up to 4,000 new jobs according to Panasonic. No start date for operations has been mentioned. “Nothing has been decided yet” on this point, specified to theAFP a spokesperson for the group. The project has yet to get the green light from Panasonic’s board of directors.
The announcement comes three months after the grand opening of a new Tesla mega-factory in Austin, Texas. Panasonic had been an early partner of Tesla, with the two companies operating together since 2017 a giant factory in Nevada, in which Panasonic produces batteries for the company.Elon Musk.
A cylindrical battery produced in Japan
Panasonic also announced earlier this year that it would make one of its factories in Japan the initial mass production site for its new “4680” cylindrical lithium-ion battery, which is larger and more powerful than its predecessors. models, from its 2023/2024 financial year.
In covert words, the group recently explained that it preferred to start production of this new product in Japan rather than in the United States because its production of batteries with Tesla in Nevada had taken a long time to become stable and profitable. .
“We cannot tolerate delays” and “we want to have the smoothest start possible“for the production of this new model, declared Kazuo Tadanobu during a round table with journalists at the beginning of June at which theAFP had attended.
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Panasonic was a world pioneer in electric batteries, but competition in this sector is becoming increasingly fierce, with South Korean and Chinese groups also at the forefront in this field and car manufacturers developing their own batteries.
Last year the American manufacturer Ford announced an investment of more than 11 billion dollars with the South Korean SK Innovation to build four factories of batteries and electric vehicles in Kentucky and Tennessee. The Japanese car giant Toyota plans to start producing its own batteries for the North American market in North Carolina in 2025. Stellantis will also set up a battery factory in the country with Samsung SDI. (with AFP)
