After picking Kansas over Oklahoma for its $4 billion electric vehicle battery plant, Panasonic leaders say the new plant near De Soto in eastern Kansas will begin production in early 2025.
Ground was broken in July of 2022 for the new plant as the state of Kansas pledged $1 billion n state economic incentives. Panasonic promised to employ 4,000 people to manufacture lithium-ion batteries used in EVs. The company later gave an indication it might build a second plant in Oklahoma but later decided against it.
Panasonic executives involved in construction of the $4 billion electric vehicle battery plant at De Soto said Tuesday the facility would begin production in early 2025 and negotiations continued with Evergy on delivery of electricity to manufacturing space occupying 4.7 million square feet.
The Kansas Reflector reported that in testimony before a state House energy committee, Panasonic indicated the decision announced in December 2023 not to build a comparable plant in Oklahoma did not indicate any supply-chain or market-force challenges that might undermine the Kansas operation..
“We are extremely committed to our growth and development in Kansas,” said Tina Jeffress, a Panasonic group manager for sustainability and energy. “We do not anticipate any issues when it comes to ultimate market demand for our product. This is a generational investment in Kansas and as you can see from how quickly we are putting steel in the ground and developing other infrastructure on site, we are full speed ahead when it comes to this project.”
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