photo by: Panasonic

A portion of the production line at Panasonic's De Soto electric vehicle battery plant is shown.

Panasonic has opened its first assembly line that will produce about 70 batteries per second at its new massive facility in nearby De Soto, company officials announced at an elaborate grand opening ceremony on Monday.

But there was a different type of production question that hung over the morning celebration that attracted everybody from members of Congress to the Japanese ambassador: Will Panasonic end up producing the 4,000 jobs it promised Kansas lawmakers?

Yes, and a top Panasonic official thinks it still will happen in about 18 months, despite some U.S. political headwinds for electric vehicles and a downturn in sales for its key customer, Tesla.

The plant, about 20 minutes east of Lawrence on Kansas Highway 10, has about 1,100 employees currently, and that is with only one of its eight production lines in operation, Allan Swan, president and chief operating officer for Panasonic’s North American battery company said.

“Line one is open, and we will open the next three lines to have four lines in wing one,” Swan said of the nearly 5-million-square-foot building that is being constructed in two wings. “That should be through the end of this year, into early next year. Then the next four lines will be in wing two, which is still under construction. They start in 2026 and should be finished by the end of 2026.

“So, basically, from now to 18 months will get us up to 4,000.”

A recent report from a Japanese media company that closely covers Panasonic in its home country has created questions about when the company would be running at full capacity in De Soto. The publication Nikkei Asia last week reported that Panasonic had originally planned to have the De Soto plant operating at full capacity by March 2027, but now had pushed that date back by an indefinite time period due to weakness in the electric vehicle market.

When asked directly about that report, Swan did not back away from his estimates for when the De Soto plant would reach its 4,000-employee mark. Rather, he said Panasonic still believes the electric vehicle market will have strong growth, but acknowledged it may be uneven for a time period.

“We’re in a brand new industry,” Swan said. “That industry will ebb and flow a little bit as she grows, and she will grow. We’re clearly going in one direction. It’s not going to change. So we will ebb and flow a little bit. But the beauty of Kansas is we can build those lines out. We have customers who want them, so we should be in a good place.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.