As an electric revolution powers up, the Kansas City region is well-positioned to lead the charge.
“The world is focused on Kansas City right now. CNBC recently ranked the top states for battery production, and Kansas was in the top five. That report also said that the increase in battery production right now in the U.S. is expected to meet the 10 to 13 million all-electric vehicles to be produced annually by 2030,” said Chris Gutierrez, president of KC SmartPort.
CHRIS RUCKMAN
Featured speakers were Ajay Gnanasekaran, director of strategy and program management, Panasonic Energy Co., Ltd., and Chris Ruckman, vice president, energy storage, Burns & McDonnell.
As demand for electricKC SmartPort held its annual industry briefing last week to celebrate the region’s momentum as a leader in the field of electrification. vehicles continues to grow, the global EV battery market is booming. In 2022, the EV battery market had an estimated value of $56.4 billion. That value is predicted to be $136.6 billion by 2027. By 2030, the EV battery manufacturing capacity in North America is projected to be nearly 20 times greater than in 2021.
Gnanasekaran joined Elli Bowen, vice president, KC SmartPort, on stage to discuss Panasonic’s estimated $4 billion electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing facility currently under construction in De Soto, Kan.
To date, Ganasekaran said Panasonic has moved 4.7 million tons of dirt at the plant site, and it will start steel erection soon.
According to Ganasekaran, by expanding to Kansas, Panasonic is adding 60 percent more capacity to its battery production.
Ganasekaran said Kansas is going to be the pilot for the expansion of EV battery production, and one of Panasonic’s goals is to make its batteries accessible and affordable. Panasonic has operated an EV battery Gigafactory in Nevada since 2016, producing more than 7 billion lithium-ion batteries.
He described Panasonic’s U.S. operation as a six-year-old “mega start-up,” backed by a 100-year-old Japanese parent company that has all the technology and discipline of the manufacturing process behind it.
“That itself is a huge differentiating factor because there are a lot of start-ups that have come with the technology, but where you differentiate yourself is the operations part of it,” said Ganasekaran.
Ganasekaran discussed Panasonic’s green initiative. It is partnering with Redwood Materials, located in Carson City, Nev., to recycle end-of-life EV batteries, with a goal to create eventually a “closed-loop” manufacturing and recycling process.
“That is ultimately going to be huge because at some point in time we will come to a point where this whole battery manufacturing is a circular economy. Closed loop supply chain is every man’s dream so you don’t have to go source for new raw materials, you can just recycle yours. We’re not there yet, but Panasonic is investing a lot of money, time and research into this so that we can get to that point,” he said.
According to Ganasekaran, Panasonic has a goal of net neutral carbon emission by 2030, reducing emissions by 3 million tons.
Ganasekaran said Panasonic will be hiring engineers and program managers for the De Soto facility this year, and it will hire other workers in 2024. Panasonic previously said it will create 4,000 jobs at the factory. He confirmed that one of the main reasons Panasonic selected the site was the workforce.
Ruckman and Gutierrez took the stage to discuss energy storage/energy generation infrastructure development.
According to Ruckman, there has been a significant amount of industry innovation and change in the past 5 years.
“We are seeing a shift in the way we are generating electricity in this country, away from fossil fuels and towards renewable generation,” Ruckman said.
From an infrastructure perspective, Ruckman said there has been a massive shift not only in the way energy is generated but also in the way energy is distributed and ultimately utilized.
“The number one way we that can reduce our carbon footprint, and probably the easiest way, is through passenger vehicles, so Panasonic is right on the money. About 27 percent of our greenhouse gases are from transportation, so it’s low-hanging fruit. We’ve got the technology to be able to do that,” said Ruckman.
Ruckman noted that supplying energy to electric vehicles creates challenges from an infrastructure perspective.
“Think about the distribution networks in your neighborhood. They’re not designed for everybody to go home at 5 p.m. and charge their vehicles. Even more extreme, think about a truck stop in western Kansas that now needs to be able to recharge 100 semi-trucks every evening. The infrastructure that we have from an electrical standpoint just isn’t designed to do that. So, we’ve got a lot of work to do there,” said Ruckman.
Ruckman said that recycling lithium-ion batteries, like those that will be produced at Panasonic’s factory, is a fairly new industry, but the batteries are approximately 95 percent recyclable.
Despite a desire to electrify everything, there are some industries that cannot be electrified, Ruckman said. These include maritime shipping, air transportation, and steel and cement manufacturing. However, hydrogen has great potential for these types of applications, he said.
“A lot of the work that we’ve talked about in renewables is taking place in Kansas City. According to the Engineering News-Record, Burns & McDonnell is number one in power in the U.S., but our friends at Black & Veatch are number two. There is a lot of work being done, and Kansas City is leading the way in this space and should be doing so for the next 30 years,” he said.
_________________________________
FEATURE PHOTOS CREDIT: MARCIA CHARNEY | MWM KC