Three years after one of the largest economic development announcements in Kansas history, Panasonic Energy’s De Soto facility is officially producing batteries.
Panasonic celebrated the grand opening of its new electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant in July, marking the transition from a $4 billion investment announcement to an operating advanced manufacturing facility.
The project is the largest economic development project in both Panasonic’s history and Kansas history.
Panasonic already has hired approximately 1,000 employees at the De Soto plant, with the overall project expected to create up to 4,000 new jobs.
Building at a New Scale
Located on 300 acres at Astra Enterprise Park, the facility represents a major addition to Kansas’ advanced manufacturing economy.
The plant is designed to produce approximately 66 lithium-ion batteries per second. Its manufacturing infrastructure includes two wings with four battery production lines in each, supported by shipping, packing, and supplier spaces.
An independent Wichita State University economic impact study estimates that the project also will support approximately 4,000 additional jobs through suppliers and community businesses, along with 16,500 construction jobs.
The project is expected to generate an estimated $2.5 billion in new economic activity in Kansas annually.
Those numbers tell part of the story.
The other part is what now exists in De Soto: a major advanced manufacturing operation, a growing workforce, new supplier activity, and an industrial asset positioned to contribute to the U.S. battery supply chain for years to come.
A Kansas Investment Taking Shape
Economic development announcements often begin with plans, projections, and renderings.
This one now has production lines, employees, suppliers, and batteries moving through a 300-acre Kansas campus.
For Team Kansas, that transition matters. When we share Kansas with business leaders and site selectors, we can point not only to the projects our state has attracted, but to major investments that have moved from announcement to construction to operation. Panasonic’s De Soto facility is now part of that story. It is one more example of the scale of investment, manufacturing capability, workforce, and partnership Kansas can support.
And it gives Team Kansas one more powerful story to share with the world.
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