Panasonic Holdings Corp is currently in talks to construct a new electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in the United States. Currently, the company is considering the state of Oklahoma for the $4 billion factory’s location.
In June, Panasonic dismissed Oklahoma in favor of Kansas for another battery plant that state officials estimated would generate up to 4,000 new jobs with a $4 billion investment. The Japanese electronics giant also stated that it is considering additional factory sites in both Kansas and Oklahoma that would be used to supply batteries to Tesla’s production plant in Texas.
For over ten years, Panasonic has supplied electric vehicle batteries to EV manufacturer Tesla. The construction of the company’s new plants comes as the demand for electric vehicles undergoes a significant spike, thereby driving demand for raw materials such as cobalt and lithium as a result.
“We are examining various growth strategies for our automotive battery business, but there is no further information that we can share at the moment aside from what we have already announced,” a Panasonic spokesperson confirmed.