Photo: naPanasonic,com
This past July, Japan's Panasonic Holdings Corporation announced that Kansas was chosen as the site of its North American battery manufacturing facility, but at the time, there were no details regarding the planning timeline.
Today, the conglomerate announced that the groundbreaking will take place in November on the DeSoto, Kansas, facility, estimated to cost $4 billion and create up to 4,000 direct jobs and 4,000 other jobs with suppliers and community business.
The project will be aided by up to $829 million in incentives approved earlier in the year by Kansas lawmakers. TechCrunch reported at the time of the initial announcement that the facility once complete, will be larger than the Panasonic/Tesla Gigafactory in Nevada.
Panasonic will join other battery manufacturers that are building electric vehicle battery manufacturing sites in the U.S. to comply with new electric vehicle tax credits that were included in the Inflation Reduction Act that passed earlier this year.
Monday's announcement reported by Reuters also included details regarding the production capacity and nature of the product to be manufactured at the gigantic facility. The company expects to produce 30 gigawatt hours per year, representing a whopping 60% of its current U.S. and Japan combined EV battery production.
The facility will produce Panasonic's 2170 lithium-ion battery cells and may graduate to produce the forthcoming more robust 4680 battery format that is under development. The 4680 will offer increased vehicle range with a reduction in cost.
The current March 2024 timeline for 4680 manufacturing and the ramping up of production is said to be on track, according to Hirokazu Umeda, Panasonic Holdings Group chief financial officer.
Since Tesla is always in the conversation when it comes to anything EV, it is not clear what role if any, Tesla will play in the Kansas facility. For its part, Tesla announced, in October, plans to build a lithium refining plant in Texas, which may be a boon for Panasonic's raw material needs.
The project will be aided by up to $829 million in incentives approved earlier in the year by Kansas lawmakers. TechCrunch reported at the time of the initial announcement that the facility once complete, will be larger than the Panasonic/Tesla Gigafactory in Nevada.
Panasonic will join other battery manufacturers that are building electric vehicle battery manufacturing sites in the U.S. to comply with new electric vehicle tax credits that were included in the Inflation Reduction Act that passed earlier this year.
Monday's announcement reported by Reuters also included details regarding the production capacity and nature of the product to be manufactured at the gigantic facility. The company expects to produce 30 gigawatt hours per year, representing a whopping 60% of its current U.S. and Japan combined EV battery production.
The facility will produce Panasonic's 2170 lithium-ion battery cells and may graduate to produce the forthcoming more robust 4680 battery format that is under development. The 4680 will offer increased vehicle range with a reduction in cost.
The current March 2024 timeline for 4680 manufacturing and the ramping up of production is said to be on track, according to Hirokazu Umeda, Panasonic Holdings Group chief financial officer.
Since Tesla is always in the conversation when it comes to anything EV, it is not clear what role if any, Tesla will play in the Kansas facility. For its part, Tesla announced, in October, plans to build a lithium refining plant in Texas, which may be a boon for Panasonic's raw material needs.
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