Toyota Motor Corp. will break ground on its first battery factory in the U.S. at a mega-site in North Carolina, joining an industrywide push as automakers accelerate efforts to electrify their fleets.
The Japanese company will invest $1.29 billion (¥143 billion) in the automotive battery manufacturing facility, which is scheduled to start production in 2025, the company said Monday. 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.
The plan to invest in the site on the outskirts of Greensboro, North Carolina, was previously reported by Bloomberg on Nov. 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, said people familiar with the matter.