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Toyota commits $1.3B to build EV battery plant in Greensboro, N.C.

Toyota is preparing to build a $1.3 billion electric vehicle battery plant near Greensboro, North Carolina, that will employ at least 1,750 people, government officials said on Dec. 6.

Toyota was identified during a morning meeting of the state Economic Investment Committee, which voted to award at least $79 million in incentives to the company if the project is completed.

State officials have scheduled a Dec. 6 news conference to announce a major economic development project at an 1,800-acre plot called the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite, about 20 miles (32 km) southeast of Greensboro. The site is along a four-lane highway with water, sewer and railroad infrastructure already available.

Randolph County elected leaders voted unanimously on Dec. 6 to offer a local incentives package to the expected company that they didn’t immediately identify except as “Project Darwin.”

In October, Toyota announced that it plan to build a new U.S. factory to make batteries for hybrid and fully electric vehicles. The location was to be announced later in the year. The automaker said the plant would start making batteries in 2025, gradually expanding through 2031.

The plant is part of $3.4 billion that Toyota plans to spend in the U.S. on automotive batteries during the next decade. It didn’t detail where the remaining $2.1 billion would be spent, but part of that likely will go for another battery factory.

Toyota will form a new company to run the new plant with Toyota Tsusho, a subsidiary that now makes an array of parts for the automaker. The company also will help Toyota expand its U.S. supply chain, as well as increase its knowledge of lithium-ion auto batteries, Toyota said.

Toyota plans to sell 2 million zero emission hydrogen and battery electric vehicles worldwide per year by 2030. In the U.S., the company plans to sell 1.5 million to 1.8 million vehicles by 2030 that are at least partially electrified.