Automaker Toyota Motor Corp. is set to mete out an additional $2.1 billion as part of its battery facility expansion plan. The new battery plant near Greensboro, North Carolina will embrace electric and hybrid vehicle batteries. Toyota’s battery factory expansion is a sign of its electrification plans and that the Japanese automaker is catching up with the industry that has adopted EVs.
2023 has so far seen Toyota with rose-colored glasses anticipating the introduction of 10 new battery-powered vehicles – with a target of selling 1.5 million EVs per year by 2026.
Historically, the automaker has ambled in the industry to show its commitment to announcing novel EV models instead of assenting hydrogen-based vehicles.
When Toyota announced its battery facility expansion plans for US BEV production in 2021, it had earmarked $1.3 billion. The latest capital injection to triple its expected investment brings Toyota’s investment to $5.9 billion.
Toyota’s Battery Factory Expansion: US BEV Production
Toyota’s first US BEV production will tap into the growing market segment with a three-row SUV at its Kentucky factory, starting in 2025. The under-construction factory will supply batteries to the Georgetown, Kentucky factory for Toyota’s first US-manufactured electric vehicle.
“With this proactive infrastructure investment, our objective is to quickly support future expansion opportunities to meet growing customer needs.”
Toyota’s battery factory investment is a step towards the automaker’s renewed pledge of its electrification plans. Of the six lines of production slewed for production in 2025, two will host all-electric EVs while the other four will be dedicated to gas-electric hybrid EVs.
These battery factory expansion plans will not create more employment opportunities at either the North Carolina or Kentucky factories, instantly. The 9 million square foot Kentucky complex is under the aegis of 9,500 workers responsible for manufacturing the Camry sedan, RAV4 hybrid SUV and several other components. Toyota has earmarked 2,100 workers at its new electric vehicle battery plant, most of the jobs which will shift from the Kentucky factory.
Although the company has not yet divulged details of the expected gigawatt-hour capacity of the new battery plant, if the past has been a yardstick, Toyota has been able to produce enough batteries for 1.2 million vehicles per year.
“We truly believe that Toyota’s electrification plans are truly hybrid, plug-in hybrid, fuel cell, and all-electric. That’s what the customers have been telling us as well.”
The Japanese automaker has also targeted to sell 2 million battery electric vehicles with zero emission of hydrogen per year by 2030. Toyota battery factory expansion in Greensboro is geographically close to the automaker’s other existing US auto assembly plants in Texas, Indiana, Alabama, Missouri and Kentucky.
Toyota’s battery plant expansion furnishes an increased capital spend into a US battery factory and is evidence of the success of the government’s incentives to push battery manufacturing nationally. The IRA (signed into law in August 2022) petitioned to include several tax credits for producing batteries in the US. The other international and domestic automakers committed to embarking upon production on US soil in the next few years include Ford, General Motors, BMW, Hyundai and many galore.
