Hybrid vehicle pioneer Toyota Motors announced Monday it would spend $3.4 billion on vehicle batteries in the United States through 2030, with at least $1.2 billion towards a new battery factory in the United States. Toyota Motor North America anticipates the factory will create about 1,750 new U.S. jobs.
According to the October 18 release, the factory will be run by a new company formed in combination with Toyota Tsusho, a parts supplier and Toyota subsidiary. In addition to running the factory, Toyota will task the new company with developing Toyota’s local supply chain for lithium batteries for cars and trucks.
The first batteries produced at the new U.S. factory will be used in Toyota battery hybrid vehicles, the company said.
The new factory will help reduce emissions and “help usher in more affordable electrified vehicles” for the U.S. market, said Toyota Motor North America CEO Ted Ogawa. Ogawa also noted the factory would “create even more American jobs tied to the future of mobility.”
In Monday’s statement, Toyota said it has sold 18.7 million hybrid, plug-in hybrid, fuel cell, and battery electric vehicles worldwide, including 4.5 million in the U.S. Such vehicles currently make up slightly less than a quarter of Toyota’s sales, but the company said it expects that share to rise to 70% by 2030.
The company also said it expects to expand its lineup of “electrified” vehicles from 55 models to 70 models by 2025. Notably for Toyota, 15 of the models will be fully battery-electric vehicles.
Despite its status as a pioneer in hybrid vehicles—the Toyota Prius, released worldwide in 2000, was the first mass-produced hybrid electric vehicle according to the Energy Department—Toyota has been relatively slow to embrace the fully battery-powered vehicles currently popular among other electrifying automakers.
In 2019, Forbes reports, a Toyota representative speaking at the Geneva Auto Show noted the company had enough battery capacity to make either 28,000 battery-electric vehicles or 1.5 million hybrid-electric cars. Toyota spokespersons have also asserted that hybrid vehicles play an important part in transitioning to fully-electric vehicles.
Toyota currently offers one non-hybrid electric vehicle in the United States, the Toyota Mirai. While it has a fully electric drivetrain, it is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell instead of a battery.
