Toyota plans to start production of electric vehicle power batteries at a new factory in North Carolina next year. The factory will manufacture battery packs for Toyota's hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), and battery electric vehicles (BEV).
Toyota's total investment in the factory amounts to $13.9 billion, and significant progress has been made since construction began at the end of 2022.
Sean Suggs, President of Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina, announced that electric vehicle battery production is scheduled to commence in the first quarter of next year. Initially, the batteries will be used for electric vehicles produced at Toyota's Georgetown plant in Kentucky.
Suggs emphasized that the progress of the battery factory is currently quite positive, with intensive testing underway. About 300 team members work on-site each day, with an additional 500 employees at the main headquarters in Greensboro.
The battery factory is expected to be fully operational by 2028, employing an estimated 5,100 workers. The production capacity of the Toyota North Carolina factory is projected to reach 30 GWh per year, with 14 production lines spread across seven buildings, each housing two production lines. This will include 10 production lines for future battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), as well as four production lines for hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) battery packs.
Recently, the ninth-generation Camry rolled off the production line at the Toyota Kentucky plant, equipped solely with the fifth-generation Toyota hybrid system for the 2025 model year. Toyota Kentucky has produced over 11 million Camry vehicles to date.
In February of this year, Toyota made an additional investment of $1.3 billion in its Georgetown plant, further driving electrification efforts, including the production of a brand-new three-row battery-electric SUV for the U.S. market. In 2021, Toyota announced a total new investment of over $18.6 billion in its U.S. manufacturing operations to advance support for electrification in North America.
Additionally, Toyota recently announced the latest progress in its hydrogen-powered vehicle collaboration project with ExxonMobil. The jointly developed hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are currently undergoing on-road testing.
Source: Toyota, Automotive News
