The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that “state and local governments offered an incentive package of more than $435 million over 20 years if the project in Randolph County meets investment benchmarks.” The Journal cited state sources saying that the jobs at the plant “would pay roughly $62,000 a year on average.”
As part of the announcement, Toyota committed to using “100 percent renewable energy” at the new battery plant, which will make batteries for hybrid, plug-in hybrid and eventually electric vehicles.
The site upon which it will be built is 1,825 acres. Toyota did not disclose the size of the battery plant, however a company spokesperson said it will not take up the entire site. The company did not disclose what it will do with the remaining acreage.
Toyota also did not specify which vehicles or assembly plants its new battery plant will feed, or whether they will be hybrids or full battery-electric vehicles such as its planned bZ4X crossover, which it showed to journalists last month in Southern California. Initial production of Toyota’s EVs for sale in the U.S. is to be in Japan, though the company has said it ultimately plans to build EVs for sale in North America on the continent.
