Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Thank you, Mr. Air, a netizen of CTOnews.com, for your clue delivery! CTOnews.com, Nov. 3-four months after choosing De Soto, Kansas, as the site for its future electric vehicle battery factory, Panasonic has broken ground on the $4 billion plant, an important event aimed at increasing the number of electric vehicle batteries assembled domestically in the United States.

The plant will mainly supply batteries to Tesla, the world's largest seller of electric cars, and plans to start producing its Cybertruck by the end of 2023. The plant will focus on rapidly upgrading the production of Tesla 2170 cylindrical lithium-ion batteries to power the company's Model 3 and Model Y cars.

CTOnews.com learned that Panasonic is also working with Tesla to develop the next generation of 4680 batteries. In a recent earnings call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that production of the 4680 had tripled compared with the third quarter of 2021 and hoped that the company would soon start installing these batteries on its cars.

The factory is expected to create as many as 4000 jobs. Recruitment of the first jobs is expected to begin in mid-2023, Panasonic said. The Japanese company is one of several battery makers to set up large-scale factories in the United States.

Localizing battery production in the US is important for carmakers who want a tax break of $7500 per vehicle, which requires electric vehicles to be assembled in the US. Foreign carmakers have expressed concern that the new tax credit may discriminate against companies that do not have US manufacturing facilities, but they have also begun to take action to localize production in the US.

Ford says its three new battery plants will achieve annual 129GWh production capacity. General Motors is planning to build four new battery plants in the United States with LG Chemical, with a total annual capacity of 140GWh, while Volkswagen aims to build six battery unit production plants in Europe with a total annual capacity of 240GWh by 2030. Stellantis is planning to build a new plant in Indiana with an initial annual production capacity of 23GWh. BMW, Hyundai and Honda have also announced plans for plants in the United States.

Panasonic's new plant is expected to be bigger than Panasonic and Tesla's Gigafactory in Nevada. Panasonic announced in February that it plans to start mass production of lithium-ion batteries for Tesla by 2024.

Of course, Panasonic chose Kansas for a purpose. The company will receive a massive incentive package worth up to $829.2 million, including a $500m investment tax credit over five years and a $234 million payroll tax rebate over 10 years, among other benefits.

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