Toyota Motor North America is to invest approximately U$50m in the construction of a laboratory facility at its North American R&D headquarters in Michigan to enable the OEMs to evaluate its EV batteries.
The facility, which is scheduled to be operational in 2025, will help Toyota ensure its batteries meet company and customer performance, quality and durability requirements.
“This new investment in our North American R&D operation, which has been a key pillar of the Michigan automotive industry for more than 50 years, shows Toyota’s directional shift toward electrification for all,” said Shinichi Yasui, executive vice president of Toyota Motor North America (TMNA), research and development.
“By adding these critical evaluation capabilities around automotive batteries, our team is positioned to better serve the needs of our customers, including Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina and Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky, the latter of which will soon be assembling the recently announced all-new, three-row, battery electric SUV.”
Toyota will also collaborate with partner suppliers in the region to incorporate locally produced battery parts and materials to support the OEM’s “multi-pathway approach” to reducing carbon emissions via its hybrid, plug-in hybrid, fuel cell and battery electric offerings.
Once the site is operational, laboratory engineers will also investigate new battery configurations for future products, with the subsequent research potentially being used for the development of new Toyota-branded EV architectures.