Chicago & Midwest + Midwest + Industrial | July 14, 2022

Panasonic will build a $4-billion electric battery manufacturing facility near Kansas City, KS

Panasonic Chooses KC Region for $4B Electric Battery Factory

Panasonic Energy of North America said Wednesday it plans to build an electric vehicle (EV) battery facility in the Kansas City region and has identified a site in De Soto, KS, formerly the Sunflower Ammunition plant. With a projected investment of $4 billion, the project would be the largest economic development project in Kansas history and one of the largest EV battery manufacturing facilities of its kind in the U.S.

“Winning this project has shown that Kansas has what it takes to compete on a global scale — and that our pro-business climate is driving the technological innovation needed to achieve a more prosperous and sustainable future,” said Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly.

Panasonic Energy selected Kansas due to its business-friendly climate, robust talent pool and workforce skillset, support for technology innovation, strong transportation infrastructure, and central location, Kelly’s office said. This builds on Kansas City’s legacy manufacturing and automotive industry strengths.

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About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 13-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 15-20 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

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