Panasonic Plant to start manufacturing EV batteries in Spring, over 400 employees already on staff [Video]

DE SOTO, Kan. (KCTV) – The largest electric vehicle battery plant in the world is closer to manufacturing inside the facility in De Soto. It’s a huge step for Panasonic, the city, county, and the state.

“It has been done really really quickly and that is before we’ve even rolled out a single battery,” said Panasonic Energy of North America President, Allan Swan.

In November 2022, crews broke ground on the massive EV battery plant.

Panasonic chose Kansas out of 82 sites around the nation.

Swan said they made the right choice with the Sunflower state and are ready to grow the economy, bring high-quality jobs, and boost American manufacturing.

It has taken a lot of investment by Panasonic to get to this point, investing over $1 billion to eventually get incentives from Kansas.

“We gotta do all of that and put that money up front and that is what …