September 2, 2022: -On Wednesday, Automotive giant Toyota stated that it would invest an extra $2.5 billion in a U.S. facility that will simulate batteries for hybrid and battery electric vehicles.
Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina is set to begin operations in 2025, with the company saying that total investment in the plant will be $3.8 billion.
Norm Bafunno, senior vice president, unit manufacturing and engineering at Toyota Motor North America, said the announcement marked “another significant milestone” for the business.
The additional investment in the U.S. is part of a broader investment of up to $5.6 billion in battery production, with Toyota commenting that demand for battery electric vehicles was growing.
In the end, the business said it would aim to ramp up “combined battery production capacity” in the U.S. and Japan by almost 40-gigawatt hours.
Toyota is known for its hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell offerings for diesel and gasoline vehicles. It tries to make headway in the surging competitive battery-electric market, where companies such as Tesla and Volkswagen are jostling for position.
This has not been without its challenges. Toyota issued a safety recall for over 2,000 of its all-electric SUV, the bZ4X.
Toyota may be looking to invest billions in EV battery production. Still, on Wednesday, the business stressed it would also “continue to make every effort to flexibly meet the needs” of customers “in all countries and regions by offering multiple powertrains and providing as many options as possible.”
Indeed, the website of Toyota Europe states that the “internal combustion engine continues to be the most popular means of powering vehicles, and it will continue to play a role for the next 20 to 30 years.”
All the above came at a time when major economies are laying out plans to reduce the environmental footprint of road-based transportation.
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