Toyota to Build $50 Million Automotive Battery Lab at Michigan R&D Headquarters

Toyota Motor North America, Inc. will invest nearly $50 million to construct a new laboratory facility at its North American R&D headquarters in York Township, Michigan. to evaluate batteries for electric and electrified vehicles in North America. The new battery lab will ensure that Toyota's batteries meet North American customer requirements by confirming the performance, quality and durability of automotive batteries made by Toyota.

Operations at the new battery lab are expected to begin in 2025.

The team will also work with other North American partner suppliers to incorporate locally-produced battery parts and materials in support of Toyota's approach to reducing carbon emissions.

In addition to working with current battery production, lab engineers will explore new battery configurations for future products.

Their research may also contribute to Toyota's development of new electrified vehicle architectures.

Toyota says it will explore further expansion of the lab's capabilities and opportunities for supporting the needs of the battery and BEV ecosystem.

Over the last two years, the company has invested more than $8 billion in its US manufacturing operations primarily to support its product electrification efforts.

Shinichi Yasui, executive vice president of Toyota Motor North America (TMNA), Research and Development, says: "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 towards electrification for all. 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."

"With increasing production for electrification coming to North America, it's important to have local supporting infrastructure, but more importantly it enables us to invest in team members and technology development," adds Jordan Choby, group vice president of Powertrain at TMNA R&D. "This new facility also enables us to experiment and pursue new opportunities as technology and business needs advance."

On a global scale, Toyota plans to invest more than $70 billion in vehicle electrification by 2030.