Japanese company Panasonic will build a $4 billion battery plant for electric cars in the US state of Kansas. According to Governor Laura Kelly, the deal will transform the state's economy by creating thousands of new jobs and injecting billions of dollars into business activity. Panasonic will launch a new generation of high-capacity batteries in Kansas.

The Japanese company is partnering with electric car maker Tesla to jointly operate a battery manufacturing facility in Nevada. In January, Panasonic invested about $705 million in the factory. It will begin mass production of lithium-ion batteries in 2023.

Kansas authorities have already been denied Panasonic's proposal, but negotiations between the parties led to the state government allocating funds for support of $ 829.2 million in the form of investment tax credits, salary rebates, training and education assistance, relocation financing and exemption from construction sales tax.

Panasonic promises to create 4 thousand jobs with an average salary of $30 per hour. Approximately 80% of the positions will be in production, while the rest will be in administrative positions.

The new venture will allow Kansas to receive $ 2.5 billion annually. The plant will be located on a plot of 2 sq. km near the city of De Soto on the territory of the former army production. This space will allow Panasonic to expand the facility in the future.

The construction of the complex will begin this autumn and will be completed in 2024.

Since 2017, Kansas has failed to get a single mega-project: Intel, Ford, General Motors, LG, Stellantis and Samsung have decided to build their enterprises in other states. The Panasonic plant project began to be discussed in December last year. In addition to Kansas, the state of Oklahoma submitted an application for the construction of a Japanese company. Its authorities offered a sum of $700 million for the construction of a production facility in the city of Tulsa, but Panasonic chose Kansas.

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