Toyota opens battery development center in Michigan
Toyota USA has opened a battery development center in the U.S. state of Michigan. The “Toyota Battery Center of North America” (TBC) in Saline is intended to enhance the automaker’s testing and evaluation capabilities — and more broadly, to mark “a new chapter in Toyota’s transition toward electrification.”
Image: Toyota
Toyota USA announces that the new facility will provide its battery teams based in Michigan with enhanced capabilities for battery evaluation and development. The center covers all technologies throughout the entire battery development cycle, from sourcing raw materials to customer applications and finally recycling, according to the company. The facility, spanning approximately 2,800 square meters, is described by Toyota as a “central hub” designed to support its North American production network.
This network currently consists of a battery plant opened in 2025 in North Carolina and several vehicle manufacturing plants in North America. The new battery factory is the first of its kind outside Japan. Located near the small town of Liberty, it is now the Japanese automaker’s twelfth manufacturing site on American soil. Toyota estimated the investment amount at 14 billion euros when it opened last year. A total of 5,100 jobs are expected to be created at this site.
Toyota continues to rely on various powertrain types in its electrification strategy. The brand’s signature hybrids still play a significant role. Therefore, Liberty is intended to produce batteries not only for the company’s pure electric models but also for full hybrids and plug-in hybrid vehicles. Toyota itself prefers to refer to this as its “Multi-Path Strategy” in order to offer customers “a wide range of sustainable mobility solutions.”
In the new development center, Toyota teams are set to work simultaneously on several new technologies for use in hybrid, plug-in hybrid, hydrogen, and fully electric vehicles. “For Toyota customers, this facility means that Toyota engineers can identify and resolve real-world problems faster and closer to their root cause,” says Jordan Choby, Group Vice President for the Powertrain division. “Additionally, we can develop more durable batteries designed specifically for the conditions American drivers face every day.”
Toyota will also open this facility to third parties, partnering with the University of Michigan’s Electric Vehicle Center for this effort. Toyota itself is a founding member of the Electric Vehicle Center and aims to use this program to demonstrate its commitment to training the next generation of battery engineers and technicians in Michigan.
"Toyota has long played a pioneering role in battery development," says Keita Moritsu, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Toyota Motor North America R&D. "With this center, we are extending this leadership role to North America and writing the next chapter in our success story."
