According to Shoichiro Watanabe, the company’s chief technical officer, Panasonic Energy, Japan’s Panasonic’s battery business, aims to build four new plants to meet its target of significantly boosting yearly battery capacity for electric vehicles (EVs) by 2031. This is the first concrete indication of how many factories Panasonic Energy will require. Following a March agreement that enhanced Japanese manufacturers’ access to US EV tax credits, the announcement may potentially stoke anticipation of additional Japanese investment in the US.
Panasonic Energy intends to grow its annual EV battery capacity to 200 gigawatt hours (GWh) by early 2031, a fourfold increase over its March 2021 capacity. The company is now building a second plant in Kansas, which will increase yearly production to 80 GWh once completed. Watanabe, however, did not provide specifics about the future factories’ locations, timetables, or investment quantities.
Watanabe showed interest in future joint ventures for EV battery production, indicating a shift in the nature of such projects in which battery makers are no longer solely responsible for investment. Mazda Motor was touted as a possible partner. A capacity of 200 GWh is regarded as the bare minimum for establishing a significant presence in the EV battery market.
