The battery manufacturing unit of Panasonic Holdings Corp. said Monday it will begin construction next month of a new plant to produce batteries for electric vehicles in the U.S. state of Kansas.
It expects to invest up to around $4 billion for the project, widely seen as designed to supply to Tesla Inc., amid a global push to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Panasonic Energy Co. said it aims to start operating the plant in fiscal 2024 with an initial production capacity of 30 gigawatt hours.
"As the global shift to EVs accelerates, we are looking into ways to strengthen our battery production capacity in North America and meet the growing demand from our automotive partners," Panasonic Energy President Kazuo Tadanobu said in a press release.
The new EV battery plant will be the company's second in the United States after the "Gigafactory" in Nevada, which is jointly operated with Tesla.
Also Monday, Panasonic Holdings revised downward its net profit outlook for the current business year through March to 235 billion yen ($1.6 billion) from an earlier projection of 260 billion yen, citing costs for reforms at U.S. supply chain management firm Blue Yonder Holdings Inc., which it has acquired.
Sales forecast was raised from 7.9 trillion yen to 8.2 trillion yen on price hikes in home appliances and a weaker yen, which bloats overseas earnings.
For the first half ended in September, its net profit fell 29.9 percent from a year earlier to 107.34 billion yen on sluggish performances in the electronic components business. Group sales increased 15.0 percent 4.06 trillion yen on robust appliance sales.
