Panasonic Plant to start manufacturing EV batteries in Spring, over 400 employees already on staff
DE SOTO, Kan. (KCTV) - The largest electric vehicle battery plant in the world is closer to manufacturing inside the facility in De Soto. It’s a huge step for Panasonic, the city, county, and the state.
“It has been done really really quickly and that is before we’ve even rolled out a single battery,” said Panasonic Energy of North America President, Allan Swan.
In November 2022, crews broke ground on the massive EV battery plant.
Panasonic chose Kansas out of 82 sites around the nation.
Swan said they made the right choice with the Sunflower state and are ready to grow the economy, bring high-quality jobs, and boost American manufacturing.
It has taken a lot of investment by Panasonic to get to this point, investing over $1 billion to eventually get incentives from Kansas.
“We gotta do all of that and put that money up front and that is what we should for the people of Kansas so I’m fine with that,” said Swan.
Kansas Governor Laura Kelley said APEX known as Attracting Powerful Economic Expansion, allows the state to bring in large companies like Panasonic with benefits, but the company has to invest first.
“None of these incentives go out until they actually produce and so we look at the incentives as really an investment that we expect a long return on investment,” said Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly.
De Soto homeowners are seeing a change along with this new plant.
“We rolled out a one-third of our mill rate we were able to reduce this year in our (property) tax bill and we see this as just the beginning. This moment is about more than just this new plant, it is about resilience, it is about transformation and it is about the future that we are building here together,” said De Soto, Kansas Mayor Rick Walker.
State leaders expect benefits for the Kansas economy as well.
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“It is $500 million of labor income that will be generated here, we expect a $2.5 billion return on this investment,” said Gov. Kelly.
While the area is expected to grow as the plant opens, De Soto and others worked ahead of time to update wastewater treatment, energy, broadband access, and roads for the facility.
“The nuts and bolts are there to make sure that with all of this growth that there is a solid foundation to build on,” said Kansas 3rd District Representative Sharice Davids.
Some aren’t fully on board with this big change, though leaders shared this will help shape the area’s future.
“What you are going to see is amazing jobs, good paying jobs, good healthcare, good pension, and that is going to the people in this area, I think they are going to be really pleased with what is going to happen,” said Swan. He added, “There are already 4 or 5 suppliers that are going to be in this plant with us so kind of creating a bit of vertical supply chain in the plant already and then there are more suppliers as the volumes build up there are more and more particularly from Korea and Japan interested in coming over and looking at what that looks like. Some of that could be a few years out to be fair but they are interested in that and obviously, when we are here we can pull them in.”
“These are really opportunities for all of us to be listening to the community to make sure that the growth comes with being mindful of what is going on in the community and what the needs are,” said Rep. Davids.
They anticipate more to come as the plant gets to full capacity.
“We fully expect that a project of this size and of this nature will be a real catalyst for other companies,” said Gov. Kelly.
Over 400 positions are filled with plans for 1,000 to be on staff by the Spring when they open the first line.
They plan to eventually hire at least 4,000 people.
Panasonic anticipates the plant to be fully operating by the end of 2026.
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