Toyota announced an additional investment of $2.5 billion in its newest North American facility, Toyota Battery Manufacturing, North Carolina. This investment follows the company’s announcement that it is increasing electric vehicle production. The expanded manufacturing facility will not only provide the needed batteries, but will add 350 jobs, bringing the total employment to approximately 2,100. Scheduled to begin production in 2025, the facility will produce batteries for hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) and BEVs.
Toyota has a target of 40% of new vehicle sales in the U.S. to be electrified vehicles by 2025, and the target increases to 70% by 2030. This is one step along to path to achieving the company’s goal of zero CO2 emissions from new vehicles by 2050. With the new investment in its North Carolina battery manufacturing facility, the total commitment to advancing its battery production is now $5.6 billion.
“This marks another significant milestone for our company,” said Norm Bafunno, senior vice president, 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.”
With an eye toward future technologies, Toyota is exploring fuel cells in partnership with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to construct, install, and test a 1 MW proton exchange membrane fuel cell power generation system at the NREL Flatirons campus in Arvada, Colorado. The program is a 3-year, $6.5 million project funded by the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office, part of DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
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