U.S.-market Toyota batteries are now made in North Carolina
In an announcement released on November 12, the Japanese automotive juggernaut Toyota announced a significant milestone in its efforts to localize automobile production in the United States. The automaker has begun production at its all-new battery plant in Liberty, North Carolina, Toyota’s eleventh plant in the US, and the company’s first and only battery plant outside of Japan.
Toyota says that the new $14 billion plant will create up to 5,100 new jobs in the state, a commitment that it is backing up with an additional investment of $10 billion over the next five years to strengthen its efforts. In total, these new investments bring the company’s total investment in the United States to nearly $60 billion, which it has been pouring in since it began selling cars in the U.S. almost 70 years ago.
“Today’s launch of Toyota’s first U.S. battery plant and additional U.S. investment up to $10 billion marks a pivotal moment in our company’s history,” Ted Ogawa, president and chief executive officer, Toyota Motor North America (TMNA), said in a statement. “Toyota is a pioneer in electrified vehicles, and the company’s significant manufacturing investment in the U.S. and North Carolina further solidifies our commitment to team members, customers, dealers, communities, and suppliers.”
Your next Camry and/or RAV4’s battery will be made here
According to Toyota, the new mega plant covers a sprawl of over 1,850 acres, serving as Toyota’s hub for developing and producing lithium-ion batteries that go into its extensive portfolio of electrified vehicles. In total, the new plant will house 14 battery production lines that will make batteries to go into all different kinds of Toyota vehicles, including hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) like the Prius, Camry, and RAV4, battery electric vehicles (BEVs) like the bZ4x, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) like the Prius and RAV4 Plug-in Hybrids.
Batteries assembled at Toyota North Carolina will be used in models such as the Camry and RAV4, which are exclusively offered as hybrids, as well as the hybrid version of the Corolla Cross compact crossover SUV. In addition, the automaker says that the batteries for a “yet-to-be-announced all-electric 3-row BEV” will also be made at the plant. They indicate that the mystery vehicle will be “the first of its kind for Toyota to be built in the U.S.”
Toyota states that the plant currently ships HEV modules to Toyota Kentucky, the automaker’s largest factory, where the Camry and RAV4 are assembled, as well as the Mazda Toyota Manufacturing plant in Alabama, where the Corolla Cross is assembled. In addition to its current output, the automaker plans to add more battery production lines at Toyota North Carolina, which are set to be operational by 2030.
Toyota states that the new plant will not only be a workplace, but also a hub for building community. It says that the plant will also feature a range of amenities for team members, including on-site childcare, a pharmacy, a medical clinic, and a fitness center. In a statement, United States Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy expressed his support and appreciation, noting that Toyota’s $14 billion commitment would contribute to a wave of new, well-paying American jobs.
“Under President Donald Trump’s leadership, America is open for business,” Duffy said in a statement. “Toyota’s move to expand production in North Carolina is the latest show of confidence in this administration’s efforts to reshore manufacturing, generate new, great-paying jobs, and inject billions of dollars into the economy. We’re just getting started!”
Toyota
Toyota has made a significant investment in hybrid vehicles
The latest investment is a reflection of Toyota’s “multi-pathway powertrain strategy,” which places a heavy emphasis away from pure battery-electric vehicles in favor of a massive bet on hybrid and plug-in vehicles, which have been a large chunk of its sales numbers recently. Toyota does not distinguish sales of specific models by powertrain, but according to the latest data released by the automaker’s North American division, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and BEVs under the umbrella of “electrified” vehicles made up 44.9% of total sales in the region.
“Strong customer demand continues across our entire lineup, and vehicles are selling as fast as we build them,” Andrew Gilleland, senior vice president at Toyota Motor North America, said last month.
Toyota’s “multi-pathway powertrain strategy” reflects Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda’s vision of ‘powertrain diversity,’ where customers can still own gas-powered cars. During a company event in January 2024, Toyoda shared a controversial opinion on EVs, where he argued that battery-electric vehicles aren’t an entirely viable mobility solution, pointing out that many of its customers live in parts of the world with little to no access to electricity.
“No matter how much progress BEVs make, I think they will still only have a 30% market share,” said Toyoda. “Then, the remaining 70% will be HEVs, FCEVs, and hydrogen engines. And I think engine cars will definitely remain. […] I think this is something that customers and the market will decide, not regulatory values or political power.”
Final thoughts
With the loss of the $7,500 Federal EV tax credits at the end of September, it makes sense that Toyota and its new facility are sticking to its doctrines about the future of electrified mobility, especially as it needs to guarantee vehicles that will sell and not sit on dealer lots.
In 2023, an internal Toyota document shared with its U.S. dealers and viewed by Jalopnik explained that the company’s hesitation toward pure battery-powered EVs is rooted in the lack of EV charging infrastructure, affordability, and, most importantly, a finite amount of critical resources like lithium, cobalt, nickel, and graphite. They explained a concept they called the 1:6:90 rule, where, considering the amount of raw materials needed for a battery in one battery-electric vehicle designed for 300+ miles of range, it can make six plug-in hybrid batteries, or 90 batteries for hybrid-electric vehicles like the Prius.
“For the same limited resources, instead of replacing one internal combustion engine, you can replace 90,” the Toyota document said. “The overall carbon reduction of these 90 vehicles over their lifetimes is 37 times as much as a single battery-electric vehicle.”
Given that Toyota North America’s SVP noted that “vehicles are selling as fast as we build them,” they should make sure they can keep up.