Panasonic Energy Co. has selected more firms for its project team to build a $4-billionelectric vehicle battery plantin Kansas. Site work at the De Soto property began last month.

Greenville, S.C.-based Industrial Project Innovation is the construction manager, Panasonic said in a Dec. 22 announcement. Portland, Ore.-based Mackenzie Inc. is the architect-of-record; Toledo, Ohio-based SSOE Group is providing engineering and design work; and Columbia, Mo.-based Emery Sapp & Sons Inc. and Kansas City, Mo.-based Kissick Construction Co. Inc. are doing site preparation.

Panasonic表示，SSOE一直参与评估站点的“最早阶段”。它定居在阿斯特拉企业公园（Astra Enterprise Park）的一个300英亩的遗址上，这是堪萨斯城以西的长期侵犯的前美国陆军弹药工厂。

The companies say they will present the project for city approval one phase at a time because of the planned facility’s complexity and size. The team is designing a U-in-plan plant sited around support structures and utility buildings.

SSOE工厂设计经理达娜·布鲁姆利（Dana Brumley）在一份声明中说：“在接下来的几年中，该项目还将负责提供数以万计的建筑和设施运营工作。

Panasonic Energy, which was established last April as a subsidiary of the Panasonic Group, says the lithium-ion EV battery plant would have an initial production capacity of 30 GWh. It aims to begin production in March 2025.

The plant would initially produce Panasonic’s 2170 EV batteries, which the company says are currently in high demand. Panasonic also produces the batteries at its Sparks, Nev., plant, which supplies electric automaker Tesla. The firm did not say whether this plant would also supply Tesla, but it announced earlier this month that it would supply EV automaker Lucid from the Kansas plant and another facility in Japan.

The project comes in the wake of President Joe Biden signing theInflation Reduction Actin August. The law provides a clean vehicle credit but requires North American battery assembly. Last year's Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act also included funds toexpand EV battery manufacturing.

Panasonic also announced in November that it had entered an agreement with Carson City, Nev.-based红木材料公司to supply materials for both its Nevada and Kansas battery plants.

Redwood announced this month its plans to build a battery cell recycling and remanufacturing facility in South Carolina.