Toyota, Stellantis Announce EV Battery Plants in North America
People ordering one of the latest electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles on the market need to show a lot of patience due to centralized production and/or limited battery supplies. Those who have signed up for a Toyota RAV4 Prime can tell you all about it.
We have great news to report as the Japanese automaker announced on Monday it will invest approximately $3.4 billion USD ($4.2 billion CAD) in automotive batteries in the U.S. through 2030.
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Further details of the project, including details on a site, production capacity and business structure will be shared at a future time. However, we know that the battery plant is expected to start production in 2025. It will allow Toyota to build electrified vehicles outside of Japan and reduce prices as demand keeps increasing.
The plan is to first focus on producing batteries for hybrid vehicles such as the aforementioned RAV4 Prime and the new Lexus NX 450h+, Toyota said. Fully electric vehicles will follow including models based on the Toyota bZ4X and Lexus LF-Z Electrified concepts.
While electrified vehicles already account for nearly 25 percent of Toyota’s North American sales volume, that number is expected to rise to nearly 70 percent by 2030.
Stellantis Wants In, Too
Over at Stellantis (formerly known as FCA), it was also announced today that a joint venture with LG Energy Solution will produce battery cells and modules for North America.
The location of the new facility has not been published, but the groundbreaking is expected to take place in the second quarter of 2022. Operations are targeted to start by the first quarter of 2024, with an annual production capacity of 40 gigawatt hours.
The batteries produced there will be supplied to Stellantis assembly plants throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico for the automaker’s next-generation electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles including the electric Ram pickup and Dodge muscle car due in 2024.
LG Energy Solution is already supplying batteries for the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivan. The goal for Stellantis is to have electrified, low-emission vehicles account for over 40 percent of its sales in North America by 2030.