LIBERTY, N.C. — Toyota made a big announcement this week, sharing 3,000 new jobs are now open at the new Toyota Battery Plant at the Greensboro-Randolph megasite, and it's investing $8 billion more into the plant and the community.
“That cannot happen without partnerships. We have had great partnership with the state of North Carolina,” said Sean Suggs, president of Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina.
Suggs is sharing more about Toyota's new $8 billion investment and additional jobs coming to the plant.
“I will tell you that from the hires that we've had, 60% have been local hires, too. Forty percent have been for Toyota hires. So, we believe that trend is going to continue going forward,” Suggs said.
The additional money brings Toyota’s total investment into the plant and the community to $13.9 billion and a total of 5,100 jobs to the plant.
“I will tell you that our our global corporation believes in North Carolina. Our North America corporation, Toyota Corporation believes in North Carolina, and we believe in North Carolina. And if that wasn't the case, these investments wouldn't happen,” Suggs said.
Suggs says this investment gives the company the capability to add more battery lines to the plant to support all-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles. It also brings $200,000 in grant money to community organizations throughout the Triad.
Suggs says the battery electrification industry is changing and evolving daily.
“It will continue to increase with hybrid plug-in, hybrid will continue to increase and all-electric will continue to increase. So, we've got to be able to produce those batteries somewhere. And since we're going to try to be the hub for North America, why not here,” Suggs said.
The plant will have eight buildings with two battery lines in each and trial activity will begin in 2024.
“Make sure that we're testing the battery technology, our processes, the equipment and things of that nature to make sure we're ready to mass produce for our start of production in January. That gives our team members a chance to practice to make sure they're ready. We can test and cycle the equipment. We can make sure the materials are ready, and then we can mass produce,” Suggs said.
Suggs says mass production and shipping will begin in January of 2025. They believe based on experience, economic impact will be pretty significant.
“Touch the lives of 5,000 families. That trickle-down effect is unbelievable. And the product that we're going to be producing will go into cars and trucks. For a lot of people, a lot of Toyota customers,” Suggs said.
Toyota is looking for people who are critical thinkers, problem-solvers, who are eager to work, and they will teach them how to be battery manufacturers. Toyota has already hired more than 300 people, that still leaves around 4,700 open slots.