Panasonic Is Building Its Next Big Tesla Battery Factory in Kansas

An enormous, $4 billion Panasonic electrical car battery manufacturing unit is coming to Kansas. The Wednesday announcement adopted about 45 minutes of closed door dialogue between firm and state stakeholders, the place media have been excluded, in keeping with a report from the Topeka Capital-Journal.

“Kansas is no longer an aw shucks, humble sort of flyover state. We can compete with anyone, and we can say loudly and proudly that Kansas is the best state in the nation for investment,” stated Lieutenant Governor David Toland in a press conference following the finalized manufacturing unit deal.

Gov. Laura Kelly then approached the stage whereas “Taking Care of Business” performed over the audio system. “The energy in this room feels electric,” she quipped earlier than the official announcement. “Panasonic Energy plans to build one of the largest EV battery manufacturing facilities of its kind in De Soto, Kansas.” The new manufacturing unit will sit on the location of a former Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant.

Panasonic is a serious provider of EV batteries for Tesla, and the deliberate manufacturing unit will likely be a lift for Elon Musk’s automotive firm. The new plant will construct high-capacity cells for Tesla, in keeping with a report from Nikkei Asia. Currently, Panasonic operates one giant battery manufacturing website at the Tesla Gigafactory 1 in Sparks, Nevada. Another Tesla Gigafactory in Austin, Texas opened in April. That facility is a probable future vacation spot for the batteries set to be in-built Kansas.

The state estimates that 4,000 everlasting jobs and 16,500 development jobs will consequence from the Panasonic partnership, in keeping with an financial impression examine. Note: De Soto’s present inhabitants is just 6,118, in keeping with 2020 census data. Kansas itself will likely be on the hook for an incentive package deal totaling round $830 million, in keeping with the Topeka Capital-Journal—an enormous a part of what seemingly incentivized the corporate to make its location choice (except for handy proximity to Texas).

“Winning this project shows that Kansas has what it takes to compete on a global scale — and that our pro-business climate is driving the technological innovation needed to achieve a more prosperous and sustainable future,” stated Kelly.

And positive, making and driving electrical automobiles is most likely a local weather internet good in contrast with making and driving gasoline guzzlers. But an EV’s local weather emissions are solely as inexperienced because the broader vitality grid. Plus, the lithium-ion battery business is on no account sustainable in its present type. Demand for lithium alone is projected to develop by 70 times over the subsequent few a long time, in keeping with the International Energy Agency. And lithium mining has the potential to result in main biodiversity loss, air and water air pollution, and different environmental disasters.

Which brings us to the query of “why?” Why is it that the s0-called largest ever personal funding in Kansas is for the manufacturing of components to maintain the united statesdriving our inefficient, particular person automobiles into the subsequent century? Have we discovered nothing?

There is undoubtedly a spot for electrical automobiles sooner or later. They may very well be tremendous helpful for some issues—for example, mail supply. But what if everybody within the U.S. didn’t want to purchase a Tesla? What if, as an alternative of this manufacturing unit, Kansas obtained an enormous ol’ mass transit system?