Japanese car manufacturer Toyota has begun production at its new battery plant in Liberty, North Carolina. With a cost of 13.9 billion US dollars, the facility is the companyʼs first and currently only battery production facility outside of Japan. Once fully expanded, the plant is expected to produce up to 30 gigawatt-hours of lithium-ion batteries annually and create approximately 5,100 jobs. Toyota had announced the Liberty location in 2021, with the groundbreaking taking place that same year.
14 production lines planned for 2030
The facility will manufacture batteries for hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles, and fully battery-electric vehicles. Initially, the batteries will be used for models such as the Camry HEV, Corolla Cross HEV, and RAV4 HEV. Toyota also announced an as-yet-unnamed all-electric SUV with three rows of seats to be built in the United States. The plant is already supplying modules to locations in Kentucky and Alabama. Production lines in North Carolina are intended to be gradually brought into operation by 2030. Once completed, there will be 14 production lines: four for hybrid vehicles (HEV) and ten for battery-electric vehicles (BEV) as well as plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV).
Source:
https://pressroom.toyota.com/toyota-charges-into-u-s-battery-manufacturing/
