TOPEKA, Kan. — A new electric vehicle battery factory is coming to De Soto, Kansas, along with billions of dollars of investment.

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly made the official announcement in Topeka Wednesday evening. She said the facility is expected to invest $4 billion and create up to 4,000 jobs at the plant. She also believes the project will create more than 16,000 construction jobs.

“It’s the largest private investment in Kansas history,” Kelly said.

Panasonic Corp. announced the plan earlier Wednesday and said workers at the factory will make high-capacity batteries for Tesla. It’s Panasonic’s second electric vehicle battery factory in the U.S.

The state competed against Oklahoma for the investment as well as hundreds of new jobs that are expected to come with the plant.

Kansas approved a vast new business incentive program to better attract billion-dollar megaprojects, like the proposed Panasonic plant.

De Soto competed fiercely to get the mega deal.

In the past month, De Soto City Council approved two proposals that outline plans for large manufacturing facilities. The two sites sit on the southeast corner of 103rd Street and Dual Drive.

Councilmembers also approved a plan to issue as much as $100 million in industrial revenue bonds. The plan provides Sunflower Redevelopment Group a sales tax exemption on construction materials used to install things like water, sewer and upgrade roads.

Those infrastructure improvements are needed at the location before any company can move in and build a plant on the site.