TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Panasonic Holdings, a battery supplier to electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc, said on Sunday it is considering building a battery plant in Oklahoma, its third in the States united
“Panasonic has entered into an agreement with the State of Oklahoma that defines the eligibility and terms of incentives under the Oklahoma LEAD Act,” the company told Reuters in an email, referring to a package of incentives that the state established to attract major companies to its. MidAmerica Industrial Park in Pryor.
“There are no other specific decisions that have been made by the Company. We will share more information as it becomes available,” the statement said.
Panasonic’s decision to consider Oklahoma, which was reported earlier by news agency Kyodo, comes amid rising sales for electric vehicles, and other EV makers besides long-time customer Tesla are looking to -a Japanese conglomerate as a possible battery supplier.
Panasonic is in talks with Stellantis and another BMW about building a new EV plant in North America, the Wall Street Journal reported this month.
The Japanese company in July rejected Oklahoma as the site for its second EV battery plant, choosing Kansas instead to make batteries for Tesla. State officials there say an investment of up to $4 billion will create up to 4,000 jobs.
(Reporting by Tim Kelly; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
