NEW YORK: Toyota Motor Corp will break ground on its first battery factory in the United States at a mega-site in North Carolina, joining an industry-wide push as automakers accelerate efforts to electrify their fleets.
The Japanese company will invest US$1.29bil (RM5.46bil) in the automotive battery manufacturing facility, which is scheduled to start production in 2025, the company said.
It is the latest in a slew of announcements by major automakers in recent months to ramp up capacity to manufacture batteries for a coming wave of electric vehicles (EVs).
The plan to invest in the site on the outskirts of Greensboro, North Carolina, was previously reported by Bloomberg on November 19.
It is expected to be done in partnership with Toyota’s joint battery venture with Panasonic Corp, a company called Prime Planet Energy & Solutions (PPES), people familiar with the matter said at the time.
Toyota would only say on Monday that those two companies are current suppliers.
“Both PEVE and PPES remain as battery suppliers and important partners to the Toyota Group,” said a spokesman.
Toyota’s announcement follows its October pledge to invest US$3.4bil (RM14.39bil) in automotive batteries in the US over the next decade.
That’s part of a larger 1.5 trillion yen (US$13.3bil or RM55.83bil) earmarked for battery development and production globally through 2030.
The company has hastened its push to electrify more of its lineup in recent months.
Toyota promised last week to be ready to sell only zero-emission cars in Europe by 2035, aligning with the European Union’s green deal measures proposed earlier this year. It has been seen as a laggard in the US, but earlier this year announced plans for EVs. — Bloomberg
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