The battery arm of Panasonic reportedly needs to build four more factories if the organization wants to bolster its annual battery capacity for electric vehicles by 2031, the organization’s technology chief, Shoichiro Watanabe, told Reuters.

Despite having a plant in Nevada as well as plans in place to build a second facility in Kansas, Panasonic “will need to build around another four factories" if the business wants to achieve a sharp boost in its annual battery capacity, Watanabe said during a June 30 interview with Reuters.

Panasonic also said that it is looking to expand its North American production capacity by building at least two factories to produce 4680 batteries, a new type of battery cell, for Tesla vehicles by 2030. Oklahoma is reportedly being considered as a possible site for one of the facilities.

The four battery plants will reportedly need to be supported by almost a dozen materials supplier factories, he said, creating a supply chain based on the principle of “local production for local consumption."

At the time of the interview, Watanabe did not mention any potential locations for these battery production venues, nor did he give time frames for building the facilities or the sizes of investments the company would need for these projects.

Watanabe suggested that Panasonic could be open to establishing a joint venture for EV battery production. According to Reuters, Mazda is one of the companies Watanabe cited as a potential partner for this endeavor.

In June 2023, Mazda and Panasonic announced plans to hold talks with one another in order to set up a partnership that would see Panasonic supply Mazda with cylindrical lithium-ion batteries. The two sides reportedly hope to sign off on the partnership later this year and plan to begin the battery supply sometime after 2025.

Watanabe also said Panasonic might consider joint procurement efforts with some of the company's major customers.