The world's largest automaker by volume also announced it plans to build a new company and establish a new U.S. electric battery plant with Toyota Tsusho, the automakers metals trading arm and a unit of the Toyota Group.
The funds are part of the $13.5 billion I announced in September it planned to spend globally by 2030 to develop batteries and its battery supply system. The largest Japanese automaker said in September it aimed to slash costs of its batteries by 30% or more by working on materials used and the way the cells are structured.
Toyota said the new company would initially focus on producing batteries for hybrid vehicles. Toyota has said it will later disclose production capacity, the new company’s business structure and site.
Toyota North America CEO Ted Ogawa said in a statement that the investment will help usher in more affordable electric vehicles for U.S. consumers. Globally, automakers are investing billions of dollars to accelerate battery and electric vehicles production as they face increasingly stringent environmental regulations.
Toyota has launched a lobbying campaign to try and convince U.S. lawmakers not to include an additional $4,500 tax incentive for union-made electric vehicles.
In August, U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order setting a target to make half of all new vehicles sold zero-emissions vehicles in 2030.
Detroit's Big Three automakers announced in August that they aspire to achieve sales of 40 - 50% of annual U.S. volumes of electric vehicles. Last month, Toyota signed unreservedly to meet the challenge of making half of the vehicles that we sell electric by 2030.
Biden's $50,000 goal and automakers' 2030 goals include battery electric, fuel cell and plug-in hybrid cars that also have a gasoline engine.