Toyota to build its first electric car battery plant in the US

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Toyota to build its first electric car battery plant in the US

NAGOYA - - Toyota Motor said Monday that it will build a U.S. plant for batteries for electric cars and other vehicles, part of nearly $3.4 billion in battery-related investments to be made in the American market through the end of the decade.

The Japanese automaker will establish a new company for the battery plant with the group trading house Toyota Tsusho.

The venture, which will be 90% owned by Toyota, will aim to start production in 2025.

This comes as Biden administration calls for a shift to electric vehicles as part of its environmental agenda. Stellantis, whose automobile brands include Fiat and Chrysler, also announced massive investment in electric vehicle production in the U.S.

The new site, which will be Toyota's first battery plant in the U.S., will new employ 1,750 people. Toyota will announce the location and production capacity of the new facility at a later date.

The plant will make lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles in the initial stage with a view to developing hybrid battery by solar cells later.

Toyota announced in September that it would invest 1.5 trillion Yen in vehicle batteries by 2030 worldwide. The company aims to sell 8 million hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles by 2030, of which a total of 2 million will be electrified vehicles and fuel cell vehicles.

Toyota has placed a clear emphasis on keeping battery procurement within its group, partly from the standpoint of quality assurance. The new company with Toyota Tsusho is Toyota's third lithium battery.

Toyota began edging EV, together with Panasonic in 1996, as a supplier of hybrid battery batteries in Japan. In 2020, the two companies launched Prime Planet Energy Solutions, which is responsible for production and development of automobile batteries.

With the new venture, Toyota picked a structure that allows Toyota to operate independently, said a spokesperson for the automaker.