Toyota announced an additional investment of $2.5 billion in its North American battery factory, adding additional capacity to support electric vehicle battery production for North America.
At the end of August 2022, Toyota announced an additional investment of $2.5 billion in its newest North American facility, Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina (TBMNC). The investment adds additional capacity to support electric vehicle battery production for North America as well as for export.
The move will add an extra 350 jobs to the factory, bringing the total employment at the North Carolina plant to approximately 2,100. Scheduled to start production of batteries in 2025, Toyota’s factory will produce batteries for both hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) and BEVs. When the new factory was announced in 2021, it came with an initial investment of $1.29 billion and 1,750 new jobs; the latest announcement ups total investment to $3.8 billion.
Manufacturing the batteries in the U.S. will help more of Toyota’s vehicles qualify for federal electric vehicle incentives, which now require vehicles be built in North America, and at least 50 per cent of battery components to be North American-sourced.
In 2021, Toyota announced a global investment of approximately $70 billion over several years to fund its electrification efforts. The new investment in North Carolina marks another significant milestone in its road to electrification. The plant will serve a significant role in moving Toyota towards a fully-electrified future, helping the company meet its goal of carbon neutrality in its vehicles and operations by 2035.
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