Panasonic executives involved in construction of the $4 billion electric vehicle battery plant at De Soto said Tuesday the facility would begin production in early 2025 and negotiations continued with Evergy on delivery of electricity to manufacturing space occupying 4.7 million square feet. The company broke ground in July 2022 on a project backed by up to $1 billion in state economic incentives with the promise of employing 4,000 people in production of lithium-ion batteries used in vehicles. In testimony to the House energy committee, Panasonic said the December decision not to build a comparable plant in Oklahoma didn’t indicate presence of supply-chain or market-force challenges capable of undermining the Kansas plant. “We are extremely committed to our growth and development in Kansas,” said Tina Jeffress, a Panasonic group manager for sustainability and energy. “We do not anticipate any issues when it comes to ultimate market demand for our product. This is a generational investment in Kansas and as you can see from how quickly we are putting steel in the ground and developing other infrastructure on site, we are full speed ahead when it comes to this project.” Panasonic, the battery supplier to electric vehicle maker Tesla, said installation of steel framing in De Soto on one side of the two-wing plant was 93% completed, while steel components on the second wing were 44% completed. Rep. John Carmichael, a Wichita Democrat, said the cost of building electricity substations and miles of electricity transmission lines to accommodate Panasonic would be paid by consumers in Evergy’s central region, which included Emporia, Topeka and Wichita. Typical ratepayers in Johnson County where the plant has been located wouldn’t be part of that rate obligation, he said.
Source: KAKE – News
