Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Cars

Toyota announces site for its first U.S. battery plant

By

Toyota is doubling down on its electric vehicle ambitions with the building of a $1.3 billion battery production plant in North Carolina, its first such facility in the U.S.

The Japanese automaker announced the plan on Monday, December 6, revealing that it will build the plant in the Greensboro-Randolph area about 80 miles northeast of Charlotte.

Upon completion in 2025, the site will feature four production lines, with each one able to deliver enough lithium-ion batteries for 200,000 electric vehicles that year. Moving forward, Toyota said it wants to expand the facility to at least six production lines for a combined total of up to 1.2 million vehicles per year.

Related

The facility is expected to employ around 1,750 people and use 100% renewable energy.

The car giant said the $1.3 billion investment is part of a larger $3.4 billion injection announced in October that will help Toyota expand battery production in the U.S. through 2030.

Commenting on Monday’s announcement, Ted Ogawa, CEO of Toyota Motor North America, described the Greensboro-Randolph location as offering “the right conditions for this investment, including the infrastructure, high-quality education system, access to a diverse and skilled workforce, and a welcoming environment for doing business.”

Toyota is the latest automaker to announce plans for new battery production facilities in local markets. With demand for electric cars on the rise, the move is designed to simplify the supply chain for more cost-effective production. For example, localization allows car companies to lower shipping costs as the heavy weight of the batteries means they’re expensive to transport over long distances.

In September, Ford and battery supplier SK Innovation announced a joint investment of more than $11 billion in new facilities in Kentucky and Tennessee for the production of electric vehicles and batteries, with the creation of around 11,000 jobs, while earlier this year General Motors said it will build two battery plants in the U.S. in addition to the two that it’s already constructing.

Tesla, meanwhile, has been producing electric vehicle batteries in partnership with Panasonic at its Gigafactory in Nevada since 2016.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Check out Spectre, Rolls-Royce’s first all-electric car
Rolls-Royce's Spectre, its first all-electric vehicle.

Rolls-Royce Introduces Spectre: The World's First Ultra-Luxury Electric Super Coupé

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has taken the wraps off the Spectre, its first all-electric vehicle.

Read more
Tesla to fix window software on 1M of its U.S. cars
A 2021 Tesla Model S.

Tesla is sending out an over-the-air update to a million of its vehicles in the U.S. to fix faulty window software that could leave occupants with pinched fingers.

According to a document issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Tesla engineers discovered that the affected vehicles may not meet certain automatic window reversal system requirements. It said that in some cases, the window may exert more force before automatically retracting when sensing an obstruction such as a person’s fingers. The condition “may increase the risk of a pinching injury to the occupant,” the NHTSA’s document says.

Read more
Jeep is launching its first two electric SUVs in the U.S. in 2024
Rendering of the Jeep Recon electric SUV.

Jeep will launch four electric SUVs for North America and Europe by the end of 2025, with at least two coming to the U.S., the automaker confirmed Thursday. While Jeep has some plug-in hybrids in its lineup, these will be the brand's first all-electric models.

The first of these models to launch will be the Jeep Recon, which is scheduled to start production in 2024, with reservations opening in early 2023. While it won't be fully revealed until next year, Jeep confirmed the Recon will have a "one-touch power top, removable doors, and glass," similar to the current Jeep Wrangler. While it doesn't replace the Wrangler, it's definitely inspired by the iconic off-roader, Jim Morrison, head of the Jeep brand in North America, said during a presentation of the electrification plan.

Read more