TOKYO—Tesla supplier Panasonic said Wednesday that it has decided against building a multibillion-dollar electric vehicle battery factory in Oklahoma.
Panasonic already has an EV battery plant under construction in Kansas and had been eyeing Oklahoma as a potential additional location. The Japanese company already operates a joint-venture EV battery plant with Tesla in Nevada.
In April, Panasonic entered into a formal agreement with the state of Oklahoma to explore building a factory in the state. Panasonic said Wednesday that it has decided not to move forward with the plan. It cited “a wide range of factors" without naming any.
People involved in talks with the state of Oklahoma said there were differences over site conditions and potential subsidies.
Panasonic has battled high costs at the Kansas construction site, people at the company have said. With help from the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, plants to make batteries, semiconductors and other products the U.S. views as strategic are being built at a rapid pace, raising the prices for construction and factory equipment.
The above-estimate costs in Kansas have made it harder for Panasonic to commit to building another similar plant, people at the company said.
A Panasonic spokeswoman declined to comment on costs at the Kansas site. She said the company’s target of building 200 gigawatt-hours of battery capacity by early 2031 hasn’t changed.
The EV business in the U.S. is facing uncertainty as growth in demand has been slower than some companies expected. Some companies are moving more slowly with their expansion plans, including General Motors, which is delaying the opening of a large electric-pickup-truck factory in Michigan.
