Global Carmakers Investing in Battery Manufacturing
Toyota and Nissan are planning to invest 160 billion yen and 200 billion yen in order to increase their EV battery production capacities, respectively. The Nikkei reported on May 29 that the investment from Toyota pertaining to the period of April this year to March next year is approximately 200 percent of that for the previous fiscal year.
The joint subsidiary of Toyota and Panasonic is planning to build more production lines in Hyogo, Japan and Dalian, China. Primearth EV Energy, another joint company, will increase its production capacity in Japan and China, too. Toyota’s capacity for 2022 is estimated at five million units, twice the capacity it reached last year.
Nissan is planning to build six plants together with Renault and Mitsubishi. They are going to build two plants in Japan and the United Kingdom together with a Chinese EV battery manufacturer, and then Nissan’s annual capacity can increase from 200,000 units to 900,000 units. The other four plants are expected to be built in the United States, Europe and China.
In the meantime, Ford and SK Innovation announced on May 20 that they would set up a joint venture for EV battery cell production by investing six trillion won. On April 17, GM and LG Energy Solution announced that they would build a plant in Tennessee. Volkswagen is planning to build six plants in Europe by 2030.