So much has changed at Panasonic’s EV battery facility site since the groundbreaking just over one year ago.
The team of over 620 construction workers has been hard at work in De Soto.
- 5 million cubic yards of dirt has been moved. This is enough to fill five football fields up to 510 feet high.
- The team has completed about 95% of the grading work.
- 20% of the second-floor concrete deck has been poured and roughly 30% of the steelwork is complete.*
- The final 4.7 million square foot building will be approximately 2,200 feet long and 1,700 feet wide. It will have about 2,000 parking spaces.
- The first production lines are anticipated to be up and running by early 2025.
Since we first announced our De Soto facility, we’ve been working with organizations such as the Kansas City Area Development Council and the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce to develop a thoughtful approach to recruiting and identifying diverse talent in the community.
- Panasonic has hired 100 people for the plant and has filled out its senior leadership team. About half of these new hires are local to Kansas.
- The plant will reach about 200 employees by early spring. Panasonic expects the number of plant employees to be closer to 1,000 by next fall.
- The plant will eventually employ up to approximately 4,000 people.
