New Panasonic Kansas Factory Will Not Produce 4680 Battery Cells, But Still Wants to Supply Tesla

The new Panasonic Kansas factory will start its first phase of production soon. However, this facility will not manufacture the previously promised 4680 battery cells.

Instead, the consumer electronics company announced that it will be focusing on the 2710 batteries.

"We decided to start with the 2170 model, which can be launched with a sense of certainty and speed because of the need for batteries as soon as possible," said Panasonic Holdings CFO Hirokazu Umeda via Reuters.

As of writing, the construction of the new factory hasn't begun.

But, Panasonic said that it will start as early as November, with an expected completion date of March 2025.

Panasonic Announces Its Kansas Factory's First Battery Cell

According to Electrek's latest report, Panasonic wants its upcoming Kansas manufacturing plant to start producing 30GWh of battery cells.

This is almost 60% of the electronics firm's annual EV production capacity in the United States and Japan.

Panasonic added that the new battery cell wants to expand the existing production of its 2170 EV batteries. Although it is not the newer 4680 battery cell, this model is still highly in-demand.

Panasonic Energy Co. CEO Kazuo Tadanobu said that they decided to construct the new Kansas factory since they want to enhance their battery production capacity in North America.

He added that Panasonic wants to ensure that the demands of their automotive partners are met. Aside from this, Panasonic's CEO also said that they want to drive the growth of the li-ion battery industry.

The official further shared their commitment to helping achieve zero emissions in the future so that consumers can have a sustainable environment.

Budget and Other Details

As of press time, the consumer electronics giant hasn't confirmed much detail regarding the costs of the factory.

However, some enthusiasts claimed that the new Kansas manufacturing facility would be around $4 billion.

When it comes to location, the new factory of Panasonic will be around 700 miles from Tesla's Gigafactory in Texas.

Also the factory's 2170 battery cell mass production is also expected to start on March 2025.

Previously, Tesla Model Y finally became Europe's best-selling car.

Recently, Uber's EV rental program has been claimed to be a success.

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Written by Griffin Davis