Toyota to invest $2.1 bln more in North Carolina battery plant

FRANKFORT, Ky.

Toyota will invest another $2.1 billion in an electric and hybrid vehicle battery factory that's under construction near Greensboro, North Carolina.

The plant will supply batteries to Toyota's huge complex in Georgetown, Kentucky, which will build Toyota's first U.S.-made electric vehicle, a new SUV with three rows of seats.

The plans, announced Wednesday, won't immediately create any more jobs at either the Kentucky or North Carolina factories. Susan Elkington, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky, said the new vehicle reflects the company's "journey toward an electrified future.”

Toyota will tap into a “growing market segment” with its new three-row SUV, Elkington said. She sidestepped media questions Wednesday regarding specific details of the new vehicle, saying: “I know everybody really wants to know about the vehicle, but today’s announcement is really about our manufacturing location.”

Toyota plans to employ 2,100 workers at the North Carolina battery factory, which will start production in 2025. The investment will prepare infrastructure for expansion. It brings the total investment in the Randolph County plant to $5.9 billion to meet the company's goal of selling 1.8 million electric or hybrid vehicles in the U.S by 2030. Toyota broke ground to begin building the plant in 2021.

The 9 million-square-foot Kentucky complex now employs 9,500 people who make the Camry sedan, RAV4 Hybrid SUV, several engines and other components. The company says jobs will shift to the new electric vehicle when production starts in 2025.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear called it an “enormous announcement” that means ongoing job security for workers at the automaker's Georgetown complex.

The North Carolina battery plant will have six battery production lines, four for gas-electric hybrid vehicles and two for fully electric vehicle batteries, Toyota said in a statement. The site near Greensboro is relatively close to many of Toyota’s existing U.S. auto assembly plants in Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, Alabama and Texas.