Toyota Motor Corp. plans to invest $3.4 billion (¥380 billion) in the U.S. through 2030 to establish a new company and build its first U.S. battery plant, becoming the latest global automaker to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles through a battery push.
Production would start in 2025 and at first focus on batteries for hybrid electric vehicles, creating 1,750 new jobs, the company said in a statement that didn’t disclose the location or production capacity. The investment is specifically for battery work and won’t be used to expand vehicle-assembly capacity, a spokesman said.
The investment is part of Toyota’s global plan announced last month to spend ¥1.5 trillion ($13.1 billion) by 2030 on battery development and production. The world’s No. 1 automaker expects electric vehicles to account for nearly 70% of its U.S. sales by 2030, up from almost 25% currently.