Toyota Unveils USD3.4bn Battery Investment Plan in US with First Battery Factory

Japanese automaker Toyota [7203:JP] announced to spend USD1.3bn on building its first battery manufacturing plant for the power of new energy vehicles (NEVs) in the US, as reported by Bloomberg on October 18. This is part of the Japanese company’s US battery investment plan, aiming at a total of USD3.4bn by 2030. Toyota did not disclose further details such as production capacity, while it would unveil the location of the new plant by the end of this year and start production with batteries for hybrid electric vehicles (EVs) first in 2025. In addition, by building a battery plant in the US, Toyota could push towards the localization of its automobile manufacturing supply chain for its vehicle factories in the US.

From a broader perspective, the USD3.4bn battery investment plan in the US is also a part of Toyota’s global plan. The automaker released on September 7 that it would invest JPY1.5tr (USD13.1bn) in the development and production of EV batteries and its battery supply system through 2030. The company aimed to cut battery costs by at least 30% through technology innovation and development, like battery cell structures. With the battery deployment plans, Toyota plans to launch its first pure EV series in 2022 and targets selling 2m pure EVs by 2030 worldwide. As for the US market, the Japanese company expected to sell 1.8m NEVs in that foreign country, including pure and hybrid EVs. At that time, the firm expected that 70% of its new car sales in the US would be NEVs, increasing from 25% at present.

Toyota’s rivals are also accelerating the investments and development of EV batteries, in view of Tesla’s [TSLA:US] self-owned battery factory. In May of this year, South Korea’s SK Innovation [096770:KS] and Ford Motor [F:US] reached a partnership to establish a 50-50 joint venture to produce batteries in the US, planning for at least two plants and an annual combined capacity of 60 gigawatt-hours (GWh). On October 18, South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution (LGES) and automaker Stellantis N.V. [STLA:US] announced their collaboration to build a battery plant in North America, supporting Stellantis’ NEV production in that region. Stellantis aims at selling 40% of NEVs in its US sales by 2030.

Sources:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-18/toyota-to-build-first-u-s-battery-plant-under-3-4-billion-plan

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Automobiles/Toyota-to-build-1st-U.S.-battery-plant-invest-3.4bn-by-2030

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2021/10/18/toyota-battery-plant-jobs-ev-electric-vehicles-cars/8501733002/

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/toyota-spend-over-135-bln-ev-batteries-by-2030-2021-09-07/

https://www.kedglobal.com/newsView/ked202105200002?gclid=CjwKCAjw_L6LBhBbEiwA4c46ugzw_9qspZHVnLATpU7_VDDYWEYE4oaYTD1ee3jiNzt0cNcRMR_p8xoC8bcQAvD_BwE

https://www.senecaesg.com/blog/lg-energy-solution-stellantis-to-jointly-produce-ev-batteries-in-north-america/