Panasonic Battery Plant

[Midtowner]

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/11/f-15...s-in-half.html


Cutting the F150 Lighting in half next year, doesn’t seem to be a positive in demand. This truck was supposed to be the cream of the crop when it comes to US Evs.

And they were supposed to be selling them starting at $35K.

At $35K, there would have been huge demand. Last I looked, I test drove one at Mainer in Okarche. They were provided one Lightning demo truck every 6 months.

[TheTravellers]

And they were supposed to be selling them starting at $35K.
...

That's insanely cheap, my MINI Cooper SE EV was $30K (tax credit of $7500 brought it down really close to the regular MINI Cooper S price).

[soonergolfer]

And they were supposed to be selling them starting at $35K.

At $35K, there would have been huge demand. Last I looked, I test drove one at Mainer in Okarche. They were provided one Lightning demo truck every 6 months.

I am sure they would sell more at $35k, but in reality, they are twice that much. Just a 30 second internet search of Joe Cooper Ford, they have about 30 Lightning on the lot and they are 2023, not the 2024.

[Midtowner]

I am sure they would sell more at $35k, but in reality, they are twice that much. Just a 30 second internet search of Joe Cooper Ford, they have about 30 Lightning on the lot and they are 2023, not the 2024.

At $35K, it really made sense. At $70K, well, that $20K-$35K markup would buy a lot of gas to put in an ICE vehicle.

[Plutonic Panda]

And they were supposed to be selling them starting at $35K.

At $35K, there would have been huge demand. Last I looked, I test drove one at Mainer in Okarche. They were provided one Lightning demo truck every 6 months.

How did you like it? I’ve been thinking of getting one for my grandparents but it’s too expensive. I want a cheaper electric truck.

[jedicurt]

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/CES...plant-still-on

Panasonic Energy still plans to build a third electric vehicle battery plant in the U.S. despite scrapping a tentative plan last year to build a facility in Oklahoma, an executive told Nikkei Asia.

man, it's like i was right while all of you were saying i didn't know what i was talking about...

EDIT, added another quote after the article was updated.

Allan Swan, president of Panasonic Energy of North America, discussed the plans on the sidelines of the CES electronics trade show in Las Vegas on Monday. Swan did not provide details but said the company, which supplies Tesla, still needs "more plants" to reach its goal of increasing annual production capacity from 50 gigawatt-hours currently to 200 gigawatt-hours by 2031.

"We are always looking [for a potential site]," he said. "Oklahoma is still an option."

Panasonic recently ended its talks with the Oklahoma government about investing in the state. The company did not explain in detail the reasons for the decision, but it came amid speculation that the EV market might be not be growing as quickly as automakers initially hoped, with high interest rates and inflation cooling consumer sentiment.

But Swan denied that market trends affected the decision, saying there was "no slowdown" in demand for Panasonic's products. He said Panasonic was eyeing the U.S. in particular as "it's much more incentivized in America than in Canada."

One of Panasonic Group's top executives recently told Nikkei Asia that the reason for dropping the Oklahoma plan was not due to shrinking demand from Tesla, but because the Japanese company was prioritizing "searching for promising second or third new customers."

[shavethewhales]

If Panasonic ends up announcing another plant in other state, that confirms that our inept state government scared them off, and are also scaring off many other good opportunities. If a great location and hundreds of millions in incentives isn't enough, then we are in even worse shape than I thought.

I know that EVs are going to keep growing in market share, but I do think there is a lot of haze in the market right now. Hard to see a clear winner yet. Tesla is obviously a giant, but a lot of people are trying to avoid Musk these days. Tecla's sales slowed down last Q, and they are Panasonics big client. I am hoping that this is the biggest issue preventing the Oklahoma plant from moving forward, rather than other things behind the scenes. The EV market will come back around with or without Tesla, but I don't expect OK to change much politically within the next decade or two.

Canoo is still faltering, and as we've discussed Ford isn't hitting the right notes yet. Kia did just announce a new line of EVs, but we'll see if they take off. Lot of waiting to see who actually takes on this market the right way.