Toyota announced an additional investment of $8 billion in its electric vehicle (EV) battery factory in North Carolina, USA. This is a significant increase from the $1.25 billion investment announced in December 2021 for constructing a new EV battery factory in North Carolina.
Toyota stated that this EV battery factory will become the hub of battery production in North America. Production is planned to commence gradually from 2025, with the line expected to be fully connected online by 2030. Once fully operational, the annual production volume is anticipated to exceed 30GWh.
This contrasts with Ford’s recent announcement that it will withdraw approximately $12 billion of planned investment to strengthen EV production capacity. Ford also reduced one of the three shifts at the Rouge factory in Michigan, where the F-150 Lightning is produced.
GM also announced that it will delay the production of the Equinox EV, Silverado RST EV, and GMC Sierra EV Denali for price protection. Ford and GM have also delayed the production of EV batteries in the U.S. Ford is delaying production at its Kentucky factory. GM announced that the Ultium Cells factory in Tennessee will start operation in early 2024, not the end of this year.
Toyota has set a goal to increase the global sales volume of battery electric vehicles to 1.5 million units in 2026 and 3.5 million units in 2030. The sales performance 2022 is 24,000 units, which needs to be increased by more than 60 times in the next four years. Last October, it signed a lithium-ion battery supply contract with LG Energy Solution. LGES will invest approximately $3 billion to establish a Toyota-specific battery production line at its factory in Michigan.
It is expected that by 2026, combining the LGES factory, almost all of the EV batteries needed in North America can be secured. In Japan, production is being strengthened at companies such as Prime Planet Energy & Solutions (PPES), a battery company jointly invested in by Panasonic Holdings.
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