Toyota’s first all-electric vehicle, the bZ4X, unveiled earlier this year but recalled for fear of dropping wheels.
TOKYO: Toyota, lagging behind in electric vehicles, says it will spend about $5. 6 billion to make more batteries for electric vehicles in the United States and Japan, increased capacity at a recently announced plant in North Carolina, as the automaker catches up with all-electric offerings.
The new investment, amounting to 730 billion yen, will increase Toyota’s global battery supply by up to 40 gigawatt hours, the company said in a press release on Wednesday.
A little more of the spending share will be invested in a battery plant in the western Japanese city of Himeji, as well as other Toyota sites in Japan.
The balance, approximately $2. 5 billion, will go toward increasing capacity at the North Carolina site.
Toyota Motor North America announced an initial $1. 3 billion investment in the Liberty, North Carolina, battery plant in December, saying it would produce enough lithium-ion batteries to force up to 1. 2 million cars a year. Production is expected to begin in 2025.
The new investment will increase production at the plant, Toyota said.
The U. S. plant is a joint venture between Toyota Motor North America and Toyota Tsusho. The Japanese plant is operated through Prime Planet Energy.
Toyota’s multibillion-dollar investment reinforces its strategy to sell 3. 5 million electric cars by 2030 with the Toyota and Lexus logos. Lexus will have an all-electric logo in Europe, the United States and China by 2030, when it plans to be in a position to sell 1 million electric cars consistent with the year.
Thereafter, Lexus will offer all-electric cars worldwide until 2035.
Toyota’s ruling comes days after Japanese rival Honda and South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution announced they would invest $4. 4 billion to make lithium-ion batteries in the United States for Honda and Acura electric vehicles.
Battery production in North America is critical to meeting the requirements set forth for electric car incentives in the recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act. a flexible industrial arrangement, and a certain percentage of the battery will need to be manufactured in North America.
“Toyota intends to continue its efforts to build a source formula capable of regularly meeting the developing demand for BEVs in various regions, adding the automotive battery source to its partners,” Toyota said in the statement. “Toyota will continue to do everything possible imaginable to flexibly meet the wishes of its diverse consumers in all countries and regions through multiple powertrains and providing as many features as you can imagine. “
Toyota has been slow to enter natural electric cars as it continues to look for gasoline-electric hybrids as an effective transition generation toward a zero-carbon future.
His first step into the electric vehicle career was hampered by an embarrassing recall. The all-electric bZ4X crossover, only introduced this spring, was recalled over fears of wheels falling off.
The company showed up to buy back the cars from the visitor’s reward.
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