Japan’s Panasonic Holdings Corp. red down-pointing triangle started building what would become America’s first large-scale EV-battery plant in 2015, at a site owned by Tesla Inc. red down-pointing triangle in the rolling hills outside of Reno, Nev.
After years of training workers and adapting machinery, Panasonic’s battery-production lines now run around the clock churning out some two billion finger-size battery cells a year in a red-and-white facility the size of 90 football fields.
Many batteries and automakers would like to follow. Enticed by federal subsidies, those companies have outlined plans for tens of billions of dollars in factory investments in the U.S. General Motors Co. Honda Motor Co., Samsung SDI Co. SSDIY 0.00%increase; green up pointing triangle were among those announcing big plants last year.
The early attempts to manufacture EV batteries in the U.S., according to Panasonic employees and industry consultants, have demonstrated the potential pitfalls for businesses. One of the biggest challenges is educating workers in the delicate art of battery production, where even a small amount of moisture exposure can result in having to discard an entire batch.
Additionally, given American safety regulations and different operating conditions, the equipment cannot simply be shipped from Asia and thrown onto an American assembly line, and there is a shortage of equipment specifically made for the country. According to consultants, careful planning upfront is required when automakers and battery makers attempt to build batteries jointly in order to avoid disagreements and missed deadlines.
Last October, GM CEO Mary Barra told Wall Street analysts that the automaker would fall short of its EV sales goal for North America through 2023 due to a slower-than-expected start at an Ohio battery plant that GM operates with South Korea’s LG Energy Solution.
