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Japanese conglomerate Panasonic Holdings Corp, which supplies parts to electric-car maker Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA), is in talks to build an additional 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 report said.
In July, the Japanese giant selected Kansas over Oklahoma as the site for a new battery plant that state officials said would create up to 4,000 jobs with an investment of up to $4 billion.
Panasonic, which has partnered with Tesla for over a decade to supply batteries, said the potential factory site will supply the battery cells to the electric carmaker’s manufacturing facility in Texas.
The auto industry has been ramping up EV production to meet a surge in demand, driving up orders for batteries and raw materials such as lithium and cobalt, among others.
“We are examining various growth strategies for our automotive battery business, but there is no further information that we can share at the moment aside from what we have already announced,” a Panasonic spokesperson told Reuters.
Picture Credit: Bloomberg
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