Toyota is making its own batteries at a plant in North Carolina and will be begin local supply in April

Toyota will begin shipping batteries from its US plant in North Carolina from April this year to plants in North America making hybrid, plug-in hybrid and pure battery electric vehicles.

The $14 billion plant in Liberty – Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina (TBMNC) – is Toyota’s first in-house battery manufacturing plant outside of Japan and the carmaker’s 11^th manufacturing facility in the US. Projected annual battery cell production will exceed 30GWh at full capacity, including cell and battery module assembly. It employs 5,000 people. 

According to Toyota, the first shipment of battery packs will go to Toyota Kentucky for the Camry hybrid while the rest of the portfolio is still being planned. All battery packs will ship by truck, though Toyota is not sharing details of the transport providers contracted.

The carmaker has put in place provisions for the safe storage and movement of the batteries from the TBMNC production line. “The overall safety strategy includes energy containment, thermal monitoring, specialised thermal countermeasures and team member training,” said Toyota’s spokesperson. At several stages Toyota is automating the battery assembly process and further details will be made available at the official launch of the plant in March this year. 

Toyota announced it was scaling up the capacity of the Liberty battery plant with a total investment of $13.9 billion in 2023.

Commitment to cleaner mobility
Toyota’s commitment to battery production in the US comes as Donald Trump’s new government undermines support for electric vehicle (EV) adoption in the country. Trump wants to end the tax credit for EV buyers, stop federal funding for EV charging stations and end low interest loans for carmakers aiming to build EV assembly and battery plants. Nevertheless, Toyota said it remains committed to the localised supply of batteries for hybrid, plug-in hybrid and pure battery EVs at its North American vehicle assembly plants and will plan based on customer demand. 

“Last year, we sold 1m EVs in the US, consisting of hybrids, plug-in hybrids and battery that accounted for 43% of our total sales volume,” said Toyota’s spokesperson. “We expect our total EV sales in 2025 to continue to grow and surpass 50% of total sales volume. And the plant will supply batteries for two all-new BEVs that will be assembled at our Indiana and Kentucky plants in 2026.”

Trump is also stoking tensions in the North American supply chain with the threat of tariffs on automotive parts, steel and aluminium, and finished vehicles from its neighbours in Mexico and Canada, and further afield. Toyota said it was focused on localised manufacturing and supply.”

“We support trade policies that allow us to build where we sell and buy where we build,” said the company spokesperson. “Over 75% of what we sell in the US is built in North America. Tariffs increase costs and those costs need to be covered, typically by the customers through price increases. We make decisions based on what we think the market needs rather than the policy direction of the moment, however, we continue to work with the Administration on several key business and regulatory issues.

*In related nearshoring news, Toyota has announced the set-up of a new wholly-owned company in China to develop and produce battery EVs (BEVs) and batteries. The company, based in the southwest of Shanghai, will develop a new BEV under the Lexus brand, with production scheduled to begin from 2027 onwards. The initial production capacity will be around 100,000 units per year, and approximately 1,000 new jobs are planned for the start-up phase.