According to Wechat Official Account @ofweeklibattery, recently, foreign media reported that Panasonic Holdings has adjusted its battery production plans due to slowing global demand for electric vehicles.
Yuki Kusumi, CEO of Panasonic Holdings, stated that the company will postpone the establishment of its third battery factory in the United States and focus on the production launch of its second factory in Kansas.
Vico Lithium Battery noted that two years ago, in April 2023, Tesla announced it was considering building its third US factory in Oklahoma. As a battery supplier to Tesla, Panasonic subsequently stated it would evaluate building a factory in that state. This is the third US battery factory that Panasonic is now delaying.
Currently, Panasonic has two battery factories in North America.
The first is Gigafactory 1, a battery gigafactory located in Nevada, a joint venture with Tesla. It faced multiple difficulties due to high defect rates and slower-than-expected production speeds, but eventually achieved profitability in 2021 and has become Panasonic's main and largest production base, with an annual capacity of 40 GWh.
The second is Panasonic's newly built independent factory located in De Soto, Kansas. It is expected to cost approximately $4 billion with an annual production capacity of 30 GWh, making it the largest economic development project in Kansas's history. In 2023, Panasonic originally planned to allocate half of its 700 billion JPY (approximately 35.77 billion RMB at the time) equipment funds to the construction of the De Soto factory, with production planned for 2024. However, this project has now deviated from its original construction expectations.
According to Vico Lithium Battery, in addition to Panasonic, many Japanese manufacturers are adjusting their battery plans. For example, Nissan recently canceled plans to build a new battery factory in Japan, and Honda has postponed its electric vehicle investment in Canada by approximately two years.
Source：https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/xzxBXbQNAxa-ClNE0Pml3A