Panasonic will reportedly build its newest battery manufacturing plant in Kansas, snubbing Oklahoma's pitch for the factory to be built at Pryor's Mid-America Industrial Park.

Japanese news outlet Nikkei first reported Wednesday the Japanese electronics company will invest several billion dollars for an electric vehicle battery factory in Kansas to supply a new high-capacity battery for Tesla vehicles that are manufactured in Texas. Kansas state officials plan to sign off on a deal and make an announcement later today.

Oklahoma leaned heavily into its recruitment of Panasonic. In April, Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a $698 million incentive package reportedly aimed at luring Panasonic. The Large-scale Economic Activity and Development Act would have qualified the company for an annual rebate of 3.4% on qualified capital expenditures for up to five years.

To qualify, Panasonic would have had to invest at least $3.6 billion in Oklahoma and meet annual hiring benchmarks. The incentive program for "Project Ocean," the code name given to the recruitment effort, will revert that cash back into the state's general fund if Oklahoma ultimately fails to land the factory.

“Gov. Stitt is confident in his plan to attract companies to Oklahoma. This is not the end of the governor’s strategy to make Oklahoma a Top Ten state for business and Oklahomans would be wise to not count us out just yet,” said Carly Atchison, the governor's communications director.

The Oklahoma State Department of Commerce said it was still working on Project Ocean and finding ways to utilize the $698 million Large-scale Economic Activity and Development Act.

“The Oklahoma Department of Commerce and our partners continue to work with Project Ocean and are optimistic for additional opportunities with them in the future," Commerce Director Brent Kisling said. "I’d like to thank the Oklahoma Legislature and Governor Stitt for the bipartisan passage of the LEAD Act, which provides us with a vehicle to attract large companies, including several prospects that have already expressed interest in Oklahoma. We are steadfast in our focus to bring the best companies, jobs and investment to Oklahoma.”

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This would be the third high-profile recruitment loss in as many years. In 2019, Saab considered building a new U.S. Air Force training jet in Oklahoma, but eventually picked Indiana for its $37 million factory, citing the state's aerospace workforce and university research collaborations.

A year later, Tulsa tried to lure Tesla's Cybertruck plant with a viral recruitment campaign, but the EV manufacturer ultimately picked Austin, Texas. Panasonic's first plant in the United States is the Gigafactory 1 in Nevada, which is jointly operated with Tesla.

It's not yet clear why Panasonic picked Kansas over Oklahoma. Lawmakers there approved more than $1 billion worth of incentives for the company.

Oklahoma has secured some economic development wins during that time, however, including the announcements of an EV factory by Canoo, a $40 million inspection and reconditioning center from Carvana and a rare-earth magnet manufacturing facility in Stillwater.

Contributing: Carmen Forman, staff writer

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Panasonic picks Kansas over Oklahoma for battery factory