November 13, 2025 - Toyota Launches 1st North American Battery Plant

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for  November 13, 2025, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry.  

This week, Toyota officially inaugurated its first North American lithium battery production facility. Toyota initially announced a $1.29 billion investment in the North Carolina facility in 2021, but that eventually grew to $13.9 billion as the scope and the capacity increased. Most of the battery production facilities announced by automakers over the past five years are focused exclusively on cell production, with other operations such as cathode active material processing and module and pack assembly taking place elsewhere. Toyota has opted to bring that entire operation in-house in one facility. 

The plant is expected to eventually have 14 production lines with a total capacity of 30-GWh annually, but at this time, three lines are running with a fourth being installed. As the global market leader in selling hybrid electric vehicles, that's what Toyota has opted to use the initial production for. Toyota began shipping lithium-ion modules in June for installation into vehicles such as the Camry, and new RAV4, as well as the Corolla Cross and Mazda CX-50 that are built in a Toyota-Mazda joint venture plant in Alabama. All Toyota and Lexus vehicles sold in North America are now available with a hybrid powertrain as either an option or standard equipment, with an increasing number also offering plug-in hybrid options. Many models are now exclusively hybrid, including the Camry, Sienna, Sequoia, Crown and RAV4. Toyota is planning to significantly increase plug-in availability on the 2026 RAV4 now that batteries are domestically produced and no longer subject to tariffs. 

The North Carolina battery plant will also eventually produce the batteries for new three-row electric SUVs for Toyota and Lexus that had been expected to debut in 2026 but may slip to 2027. 

Thanks for listening.