(Tokyo) World automaker Toyota said on Wednesday it will invest 730 billion yen (C$7 billion) to launch its own production of electric batteries in Japan and the United States between 2024 and 2026. .
Posted at 4:08 p.m.
This amount is partially included in an envelope of 2 trillion yen announced last year by the group to develop and produce batteries over the period 2022-2030, a Toyota spokeswoman told AFP.
In detail, the group will invest 400 billion yen (3.8 billion CAN) in a factory in Himeji (western Japan) and nearly 330 billion yen more (3.2 billion CAN) in its factory under construction. in North Carolina (southeastern United States).
This will bring to nearly four billion euros the total of its investments in this battery factory in North Carolina, whose activity is due to start in 2025.
The White House sees it as a “sign that the President’s (Joe Biden) economic plan ushers in a new era of American manufacturing and economic competitiveness,” said his economic adviser Brian Deese in a press release.
Toyota has long been skeptical about the market potential of electric vehicles, but started to get serious about it last year to not be left behind in this very fast growing segment and increasingly encouraged by the authorities. in Europe, China and the United States.
The group plans to launch 30 100% electric models by 2030 and plans a total investment of around 30 billion euros over the period 2022-2030 in research and development and the production of electric vehicles and batteries. he announced last year.
But Toyota continues not to put all its eggs in one basket, also pursuing colossal investments in hybrid vehicles, of which it is the world champion, and in other technologies such as hydrogen.
“There is more than one option to achieve carbon neutrality” and “the means to reduce CO2 as much as possible and as soon as possible […] vary enormously depending on the country and region,” Toyota again stressed in its latest press release.