U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg recently reiterated his department's excitement about a multi-billion dollar electric vehicle battery facility being built in a small East Kansas town.
In his March 26 Twitter post, Buttigieg included a video from his earlier visit to the site of the EV battery plant being built in De Soto, Kansas.
"We're bringing manufacturing back to America, to places like this site in De Soto, Kansas - soon to be one of the largest automotive facilities in the world," Buttigieg said in his Twitter post.
"We just got a look at this Field of Dreams, as the President might say," Buttigieg said in the video attached to the Twitter post. "One that when it opens will be one of the largest EV manufacturing battery facilities in the world."
In November 2022, Panasonic Energy Co., a Panasonic Group company announced ground had been broken at the De Soto site for a lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility expected "to add critical capacity to the domestic EV battery supply chain," according to a Panasonic news release.
"Facility construction is focused on rapidly ramping up manufacture of '2170' cylindrical Li-ion batteries to meet surging domestic EV battery demand," the release said.
Mass battery production is expected to begin by March 2025 for the project expected to create up to 4,000 jobs and make Kansas a key player in the domestic EV industry, the release reported.
"4,000 people in Kansas will have good-paying jobs at this site - EV battery manufacturing jobs that don't necessarily require a four-year degree," Buttigieg said in a March 14 Twitter post. "One example of POTUS' vision for American manufacturing in action."
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly announced Business Facilities magazine recognized the state with its 2022 Deal of the Year Impact Award for Panasonic Energy’s $4 billion investment, according to a March 7 Kansas Commerce report.
"The Panasonic Energy announcement continues to draw attention and showcase Kansas as the best place in the country to do business," Kelly said, according to Kansas Commerce. "This recognition from Business Facilities is another confirmation of the incredible impact Panasonic will have on our economy and of our ability to attract talent, spur innovation and bring prosperity to our state."
