Toyota starts North Carolina battery production

Battery production begins

Toyota reported production at its $13.9 billion North Carolina battery plant on 12 November 2025. It supplies hybrid batteries to Kentucky and Alabama factories. The 1,850-acre site is designed for 30 gigawatt-hours annually at full capacity, with employment eventually reaching 5,000. Toyota also confirmed a separate $10 billion, five-year manufacturing investment plan across the United States.

Fourteen battery production lines are envisaged.
Products support hybrids, plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles.

Site selection: 6 December 2021

The initial project announcement selected the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite in Liberty for a $1.29 billion battery plant, with production planned for 2025. Toyota and Toyota Tsusho expected the investment to create 1,750 jobs. Four initial lines were each designed to supply batteries for 200,000 vehicles annually; expansion to at least six lines was intended to support up to 1.2 million vehicles. Toyota cited the site’s highway connections, airports, ports, railway access, workforce and renewable-energy availability. It committed to using renewable energy for all battery production at the new facility.

Investment revision: 31 August 2022

In August 2022, Toyota increased planned plant investment from $1.29 billion to $3.8 billion. Two lines for fully electric vehicles were to supplement four lines for smaller hybrid batteries. Reuters reported that the Toyota-Panasonic venture Prime Planet Energy & Solutions would contribute battery-production technology and equipment expertise. The company described initial lithium-ion cells with nickel, cobalt and manganese in the cathode and graphite in the anode. Opening remained scheduled for 2025, while newer technology, including solid-state electrolytes, was described as a possible later development rather than an installed process.

Expansion programme: 31 October 2023

Toyota’s October 2023 announcement added nearly $8 billion to the investment programme, taking the stated total to approximately $13.9 billion. It projected about 3,000 additional jobs and more than 5,000 overall. Eight additional lines for battery-electric and plug-in-hybrid vehicles were planned alongside two previously announced lines for those categories and four hybrid lines. The company envisaged phased line launches through 2030, reaching annual production above 30 gigawatt-hours. The campus was expected to cover seven million square feet. These were the expansion programme’s published investment, employment and production targets.