Toyota has announced it will build electric vehicles at its Georgetown, Kentucky production plant in the US, starting from 2025. The Japanese automaker has also invested another US$2.1 billion into a battery factory now under construction in Liberty, North Carolina, bringing the total investment there to US$5.9 billion.
Currently, the Kentucky plant – the automaker’s largest globally – produces the Camry, Camry Hybrid and RAV4 Hybrid; the automaker plans to build a three-row all-electric SUV there. The battery factory will eventually have have six battery production lines, four for hybrid vehicles and two for battery-electric vehicles.
While Toyota is famous for its Prius hybrids, the company has been slow to embrace building full battery electric vehicles, and only just released its first, the bX4Z, last year. It now plans to sell 2 million EVs and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) annually by 2030.
The introduction of the Inflation Reduction Act in the US, which offers incentives to both automakers, suppliers and consumers for US-built EVs, has propelled major investment in EV production since the law was passed last August.
