Good Morning. Panasonic will open its $4 billion EV battery plant in De Soto, Kansas, today. It’s a green shoot of optimism in a market that’s otherwise cooled amid tariffs and major policy shifts—the most recent of which is the end of a $7,500 EV tax credit, thanks to the “big, beautiful bill” now signed into law. (Ford was able to retain its federal tax credits at the last minute. Meanwhile, Honda recently postponed its EV investment in Canada, and demand at Tesla’s largest EV plant is down.)
I spoke with Panasonic North America CEO Megan Myungwon Lee about today’s news and what’s next in a murky environment for clean energy. “This is a big, long-term commitment that started four years ago,” she said. “Every CEO’s job is to navigate and make decisions in very ambiguous and uncertain times.”
Lee prefers to focus on the positive. “I am not saying it’s easy,” she told me. “But the current administration and previous administration believe in bringing technology into the market and creating manufacturing jobs, and that’s what we do.”
While the new policy environment might delay the timeline for ramping up to full production, about 1,100 of the 4,000 anticipated employees have been hired. And Lee anticipates sticking with that plan despite AI, tough market conditions, and the Japanese company’s recently announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs globally, about 4% of its workforce.
“Our manufacturing process is already highly automated and, for the volume we produce, we will still need, at this point, a few thousand employees to run the factory in Kansas.”
And she’s addressing the challenges that everyone in the industry now faces: “Especially in the battery business, the supply chain is global; there are raw materials that we just cannot get locally,” she added. But Panasonic transformed its supply chain during COVID and “our goal is to have at least 50% of our supply chain done within this region by 2030.”
“It’s a wonderful beginning and definitely a celebration, but we have to make sure that the business is successful and there’s a healthy return.” More news below.Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at [email protected]
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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