Toyota, Ford, and Stellantis play catch-up on EV transition with huge investments

Big name car-makers Toyota, Ford, and Stellantis have all made headlines major announcements this week, as they seek to lough billions of dollars into electric vehicle technologies and road maps as they seek to catch up to the rapid pace of the electric vehicle transition.

Toyota, the world’s biggest car maker, led the way with plans for a US-based battery production plant, while Ford said it would invest in an EV component factory in England, and Stellantis formed a joint venture with LG Energy Solution to begin producing battery cells and modules for North America.

Toyota

Japanese automotive giant Toyota’s plans started with a $US3.4 billion investment in car battery production in the United States, with a plant to be built alongside a major car manufacturing facility.

A new car battery company will be established, with the aiming to start production in 2025. It is part of $US13.5 billion commitment to battery development and production across the world through the remainder of the decade.

“Toyota’s commitment to electrification is about achieving long-term sustainability for the environment, American jobs and consumers,” said Ted Ogawa, Chief Executive Officer, Toyota Motor North America.

“This investment will help usher in more affordable electrified vehicles for U.S. consumers, significantly reduce carbon emissions, and importantly, create even more American jobs tied to the future of mobility.”

Ford

American automaker Ford revealed it would commit £230 million to transforming its vehicle transmission facility at Halewood on Merseyside into a factory designed to build components for electric vehicles.

The Halewood factory will be transformed to build electric power units for future Ford all-electric passenger and commercial vehicles in Europe. The factory will be Ford’s first in-house electric vehicle component assembly site in Europe, and the transformation is expected to be completed in time to begin component production by mid-2024.

“This is an important step, marking Ford’s first in-house investment in all-electric vehicle component manufacturing in Europe,” said Stuart Rowley, president, Ford of Europe.

“It strengthens further our ability to deliver 100% of Ford passenger vehicles in Europe being all-electric and two-thirds of our commercial vehicle sales being all-electric or plug-in hybrid by 2030.”

Stellantis

Stellantis, which was formed in 2021 as a result of a merger between Italian-American Fiat Chrysler and France’s PSA Group, also announced on Monday that it had entered into an agreement with South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution to form a joint venture to produce battery cells and modules for North America.

Stellantis and LG will establish a new battery manufacturing facility designed to help realise the automaker’s goal of ensuring over 40% of its US sales are EVs by 2030. The battery manufacturing plant is expected to begin production in the first quarter of 204 and will aim at having an annual production capacity of 40GWh.

Batteries produced at the plant will supply Stellantis’ assembly plants throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico, for installation in all its electrified vehicles – including plug-in hybrids and full battery vehicles.

“Today’s announcement is further proof that we are deploying our aggressive electrification road map and are following through on the commitments we made during our EV Day event in July,” said Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis.

“With this, we have now determined the next ‘gigafactory’ coming to the Stellantis portfolio to help us achieve a total minimum of 260 gigawatt hours of capacity by 2030. I want to warmly thank each person involved in this strategic project. Together, we will lead the industry with benchmark efficiencies and deliver electrified vehicles that ignite passion.”