Toyota Motor North America is adding capacity for EV battery production at its Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina project, increasing its investment in the initiative by $2.5 billion and adding 350 more jobs. The increased investment in will raise total employment at the new Liberty, N.C., operation to about 2,100, reports American Machinist.
The Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina project was announced in 2021 and involved an investment of $1.29 billion for hybrid-electric vehicle battery production. Now, TBMNC’s total investment at that location is $3.8 billion.
“This marks another significant milestone for our company,” said Norm Bafunno, SVP, Unit Manufacturing and Engineering at Toyota Motor North America. “This plant will serve a central role in Toyota’s leadership toward a fully electrified future and will help us meet our goal of carbon neutrality in our vehicles and global operations by 2035.”
Toyota’s also plans to invest an estimated $3 billion to add BEV battery production at the Himeji (Japan) Plant of Prime Planet Energy & Solutions Co. in Japan.