Japan will give Toyota up to US$ 841 million in subsidies to invest in the domestic production of batteries in electric vehicles, Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said.
Toyota laid out a plan for new technology and revamping of factories, sending a clear signal to garner a larger pie of the growing market for battery electric vehicles, Reuters stated. With international competition intensifying for storage batteries, the clamour for capital investment is also getting intensified, Nishimura informed reporters at a conference, the newswire stated. A Toyota representative stated that the company could not offer any further details over and above that which was disclosed by the ministry.
The government stated that mass production of batteries was slated to begin in tranches, from October 2026 onwards.
Japan has relegated batteries for energy storage, including car batteries, as important under an economic security law, and has kept aside 331.6 billion yen for the second supplementary budget, to bolster their supply and development, the METI (Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry) said, the newswire reported.
The government will bear up to 117.8 billion yen (US$ 841 million), for developing next-gen solid state batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries, METI stated. It stated that the subsidy will be given to Toyota and three companies, with which it is collaborating for the development of batteries, including Toyota Industries, the newswire stated.
The investment is expected to garner annual production capacity in Japan to 45 gigawatt hours, Nishimura noted, adding the government seeks to get a domestic output capacity of 150 GWh by 2030.