The Toyota battery plant North Carolina jobs promise, from 2021 to 2025
The Toyota battery plant North Carolina jobs promise has changed three times since 2021, and the investment figure behind it has also moved, without Toyota ever explaining the gap between its own numbers. Toyota announced the North Carolina plant in October 2021 with a 1,290,000,000 dollar investment, a target of up to 1,750 jobs, and 4 production lines sized to make batteries for 800,000 vehicles a year, with room to expand to 6 lines and 1,200,000 vehicles a year. Production was expected to start in 2025 with hybrid vehicle batteries first.
In November 2023 Toyota added 8,000,000,000 dollars and 3,000 more jobs, and said the total investment for the plant had climbed to 13,900,000,000 dollars. The 2 figures Toyota gave for that jump do not add up on their own, 1,290,000,000 plus 8,000,000,000 comes to 9,290,000,000, about 4,600,000,000 short of the stated total, and no source read for this article explains the difference. Toyota North Carolina president at the time, Sean Suggs, tied the addition to the wider electrification plans of the company.
Today's announcement reinforces Toyota's commitment to electrification and carbon reduction, bringing jobs and future economic growth to the region.
Sean Suggs, president of Toyota North Carolina at the time. Source 2.
These 3 figures are each independently stated by Toyota, not a running total. The first 2 do not add up to the third, 1,290,000,000 plus 8,000,000,000 is 9,290,000,000, not 13,900,000,000, a gap no source read for this article explains.
Show the numbers
| 2021 announcement | 1290000000 |
| 2023 addition | 8000000000 |
| 2023 and 2025 stated total | 13900000000 |
What Toyota now says the finished plant will do
By the formal production launch in November 2025, held at the site Toyota now names Liberty, North Carolina, the company still called it a 13,900,000,000 dollar facility. Toyota said the finished site covers 1,850 acres, can produce 30 gigawatt hours of batteries a year once every line is running, across 14 production lines, and still expected to create up to 5,100 jobs, a jobs figure that also does not add up cleanly, 1,750 plus 3,000 comes to 4,750, not 5,100.
These 3 figures are each independently stated by Toyota, not a running total. The first 2 do not add up to the third, 1,750 plus 3,000 is 4,750, not 5,100, a gap no source read for this article explains.
Show the numbers
| Promised in 2021 | 1750 |
| Additional jobs named in 2023 | 3000 |
| Total Toyota states in 2025 | 5100 |
Toyota president and chief executive officer of Toyota Motor North America Ted Ogawa marked the moment with a public statement.
Today's launch of Toyota's first US battery plant and additional US investment up to $10 billion marks a pivotal moment in our company's history.
Ted Ogawa, president and chief executive officer of Toyota Motor North America. Source 3.
Toyota North Carolina president Don Stewart described the jobs goal at the same event.
We're excited to see this innovative facility come to life and to provide cutting edge careers for more than 5,000 North Carolinians.
Don Stewart, president of Toyota North Carolina. Source 3.
Pay, the grid, and what shipped before the launch
Toyota states the advanced manufacturing jobs at the plant pay an average of 62,000 dollars, about 64% above the average annual wage in Randolph County at the time of the original 2022 announcement, 37,865 dollars, a percentage this article calculates by dividing the 2 sourced figures. Toyota Motor North America head of communications Scott Vazin tied the plant directly to grid demand in a statement carried by Duke Energy, saying the production system at Toyota depends on a steady supply of electricity and power. The plant had already begun shipping product before its formal launch. Toyota shipped its first batteries from the site to its own assembly plant in Alabama in July 2025, about 4 months before the November 2025 event Toyota called the production launch.