Panasonic Holdings, a supplier to electric-car maker Tesla, is in talks to build an additional electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in the United States at a cost of around $4 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Panasonic is looking at Oklahoma as the location for its new plant, the newspaper said.
In July, Panasonic selected Kansas over Oklahoma as the site for a new battery plant that state officials said would create up to 4,000 jobs with investment of up to $4 billion.
The Japanese conglomerate also said it was looking at potential factory sites in Kansas and Oklahoma to supply the batteries to Tesla’s plant in Texas.
The Japanese company has partnered with Tesla for more than a decade, supplying batteries for its first cars.
The auto industry has been ramping up production of EVs to meet a surge in demand, driving up orders for batteries and raw materials such as lithium and cobalt, among others.
Panasonic and Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Panasonic recently posted a 39 percent drop in first-quarter earnings as China’s COVID-19 lockdowns and rising material costs disrupted production and squeezed profitability.
Panasonic said earlier this year that it would not be able to pass on all of the higher material costs to its customers, who have tightened their spending in the face of surging inflation and growing fears of recession.
Panasonic does not currently plan to increase the price of the auto batteries it builds for Tesla, even though it is paying more for the cobalt and other materials it uses to make them.
By 2029, Panasonic plans to expand battery production capacity by three to four times, with most of the increase in North America.
