Toyota has opened the Toyota Battery Center of North America, a 30,000-square-foot development and testing site at its research campus in Saline, Michigan. The company announced the opening on October 1 in a release on the Toyota USA Newsroom, describing it as the next step in its electrification work in North America.
What the center does
Toyota says the facility covers the full life of a battery, from sourcing raw materials through customer use and on to recycling. Engineers and technicians on site will measure battery performance and develop new technology for hybrids, plug-in hybrids, hydrogen vehicles, and fully electric cars.
The center is also meant to work hand in hand with Toyota’s factories. It will evaluate batteries built at Toyota Battery Manufacturing, North Carolina, and support the company’s vehicle plants across North America.
“Toyota has long been at the forefront of battery development,” said Keita Moritsu, chief technology officer of Toyota Motor North America R&D. “This center is where that leadership expands to North America.”
Why it matters for drivers
Toyota frames the payoff in terms of service and durability. Jordan Choby, Toyota’s group vice president of powertrain, said the lab lets engineers “detect and resolve field concerns faster and closer to the source,” and helps the company build longer-lasting batteries suited to American driving conditions.
That fits Toyota’s multi-pathway approach. Rather than betting only on fully electric models, the company keeps hybrids and plug-in hybrids at the center of its lineup, and all of them depend on batteries. A local lab that can test packs from the North Carolina plant shortens the loop between the factory, the car, and the customer.
Open to researchers
Toyota will share the facility’s testing capabilities with the University of Michigan Electric Vehicle Center, where it is a founding member. Other research partners in that program will be able to use the equipment, and Toyota describes the arrangement as part of training the next generation of battery engineers and technicians in the state.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer called the opening “a big win for Michigan’s leadership in advanced automotive manufacturing.”
The Saline center opened the same day BMW opened its new battery plant in Bavaria, which we covered in BMW Opens a Bavarian Battery Plant and Starts i3 Pack Production. Toyota did not share a cost, a staffing number, or a timeline for its next battery announcement in the release.
