Panasonic May Build Second Battery Factory in USA; Other Companies Announce Battery Plants Too

Panasonic, which supplies batteries to global EV leader Tesla, is mulling over the opening of another factory in the USA to produce the batteries, according to reports. The new facility is expected to produce 4680 cells for Tesla. Tesla is presently manufacturing these batteries at its own factory in Fremont.

In July this year, Panasonic had announced a plant coming up in Kansas with an investment of $4 billion and the second factory will be of a similar kind. The reports suggest that it will come up in Oklahoma.

The capacity of both the plants – Kansas and Oklahoma – will be of similar capacity as Panasonic looks to commercialize the new lithium-ion battery in the USA.

In March, Panasonic had revealed its USA plans and had mentioned possible manufacturing plants in Oklahoma as well. The new factory is also expected to generate about 4000 jobs in five years.

Both the states of Kansas and Oklahoma offered incentive packages in order to get Panasonic investment. Notably, Oklahoma State has approved a Bill that would grant $698 million in the form of rebates and incentives to a company that was unnamed for setting up a large manufacturing unit in the state.

Presently, Panasonic and Tesla have a joint gigafactory in Nevada, from where Panasonic is supplying to Tesla. Panasonic will also be producing 4680 cells in Wakayama Prefecture in Japan. Shoichiro Watanabe, CTO, Panasonic Energy, had also informed that the company will increase the energy density of the cells by 20 per cent by 2030.

Panasonic had revealed its objective to increase its EV battery production capacity to 3-4 times by FY2028 fiscal. At present, the capacity hovers around 50 GWh per year.

Other companies are also investing in the USA in battery manufacturing. Recently, LG and General Motors announced their plans to build a battery plant in Michigan with $2.6 billion. Hyundai will be investing $5.54 billion in EV and battery Georgia. LG Energy Solution will build a factory in Arizona with $1.4 billion.