Slow EV production may delay Panasonic plant expansion

Slow electric vehicle (EV) market could force Panasonic to delay its EV battery expansion plan in North America, said CEO, Yuki Kasumi at a press event on Monday.

Panasonic is a lead supplier to EV giant Tesla and it is keen on opening a third plant in the U.S. but remains cautious over the recent market shift.

The battery maker has a battery plant in Nevada and a building second in Kansas. The third plant remained in limbo after the production cut by automakers.

Once completed, the plant in Kansas is likely to add 80 gigawatt hours (GWh) per year to its annual output and Panasonic aims to improve this by 200GWh by 2031.

Earlier this year, Kasumi told employees to improve productivity and focus on increasing production at the existing EV battery manufacturing plants in the U.S.