Panasonic to build EV battery plant for Tesla in Kansas

Panasonic Energy, a major Tesla supplier, said on Wednesday it had selected Kansas as the site for a new battery plant that state officials said would create up to 4,000 jobs and represent an investment of up to $4 billion (¥550.6 billion). 

The move comes as Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said the maker of electric vehicles (EVs) faced challenges ramping up production of its in-house batteries, contributing to limited auto output. He described new Tesla factories in Texas and Berlin as "gigantic money furnaces" which are losing billions of dollars, Japan Times reports.