ACS to build a battery plant for Panasonic in the U.S

The expansion strategy of the Spanish construction company ACS into U.S. industrial building projects once again offers great benefits.

The company led by Florentino Perez, together with the North American company Yates Construction, signed an agreement to build a battery factory for electric cars in the city of De Soto, Kansas.

The client is the Japanese multinational Panasonic Corporation.

The investment project amounts to 4 billion dollars (3.75 billion euros) and the construction stage will require close to 3 billion dollars (2.81 billion euros).

The Spanish construction company is represented by Turner, which recently carried out a 3.4 billion dollar project to build a similar factory in Ohio for Honda and a pharmaceutical facility for the US Agilent, valued at 730 million dollars, in Colorado.

ACS expands its business

The CEO of the Spanish construction company, Juan Santamaría, gave details this week in a meeting with analysts and investors about the direction chosen by the company to position itself as a contractor, and even as a developer, of modern infrastructure.

ACS wants to invest in energy transition projects, digitalization, sustainable mobility and healthcare and pharmaceutical infrastructure.

The main market is in the USA and its entry, of course, is through the subsidiary Turner.

“With our subsidiary we have a presence in 47 states, and we are well positioned with respect to the supply chain and attracting the talent needed for modern infrastructures,” said the CEO, who also mentioned opportunities in the construction of facilities linked to hydrogen and semiconductor chips.

In addition, the construction company is accelerating on the European continent to imitate the success of its subsidiary in the United States with the construction of data centers.

Panasonic, among the major customers in the EV battery market, is one of the largest customers in the world

Panasonic, among ACS’s major customers

The new work commissioned by Panasonic is linked to the expansion of sustainable mobility in the USA.

The Japanese company has a major investment program on US soil with the aim of increasing battery production and adds this project to its global Green Impact program.

Its goal is to eliminate net carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and avoid 300 million tons of greenhouse gases over the next three decades.

The schedule attached to the agreement calls for construction to begin this year and operations to start in March 2025.

The Japanese company estimates to reach 30 gigawatt hours of production capacity per year.

For Panasonic, it is essential to grow among its automotive customers. The consolidation of Panasonic Energy occurred at the beginning of 2022 as a supplier of new generation technology worldwide.

Turner and Yates Construction

The subsidiary Turner once again chose one of the main companies specialized in industrial works in the USA, Yates Construction, with which it had already carried out other projects.

Another frequent partner in this type of project is Kokosing Industrial.

Turner’s deputy director, Karen Hogan, highlighted a few days ago ACS’s growing wallet linked to factories producing key components for electric cars.

Batteries are the future (and the present)

Panasonic has made significant progress in recent years in the electric car battery business.

The company has been ramping up production and is positioning itself to take on the competition in this market segment that is growing steadily around the world (just like EVs).

According to information from Bloomberg NEF, global EV sales are expected to reach 11.7 million by 2025 and 68 million by 2040. Tesla alone expects to sell 20 million by 2030.

This represents a huge growth opportunity for companies such as Panasonic that are investing in the production of batteries for electric vehicles.

Strategic alliances

Panasonic’s strategy focuses on collaboration with major automakers.

The Japanese company has established joint ventures with Tesla, Toyota and Ford, among others, to produce batteries for their electric vehicles.

In addition, Panasonic is investing heavily in research and development to improve the performance and reduce the cost of its batteries.

As a result of these efforts, Panasonic has become one of the world’s leading suppliers of batteries for electric vehicles.

By 2020, the company had a 27 percent share of the global EV battery market, second only to Chinese giant CATL, according to SNE-Research data.

However, competition in the EV battery market is “intense,” to say the least.

In addition to CATL, other major players are LG Chem and SK Innovation, both from South Korea, and GS Yuasa (widely used in motorcycles), from Japan.

These companies are also investing heavily in research and development and are rapidly expanding their production capacity to meet the growing demand for EV batteries.

Despite the competition, Panasonic is optimistic about its prospects in the EV battery business.

The company plans to invest $1.98 billion in its battery business over the next three years and aims to achieve a 40 percent market share by 2030. If Tesla achieves its target of 20 million EVs sold by 2030, so will Panasonic.