Sharjah 24 – Reuters: Toyota Motor Corp is announcing Monday it will build batteries at a new $1.29 billion plant in North Carolina as it moves to expand its electric vehicle efforts.

The largest Japanese automaker is announcing it will locate the plant at a site in Liberty, N.C. that will begin production 2025 and be capable of supplying lithium-ion batteries for 800,000 vehicles annually. The $1.29 billion investment made by Toyota and Toyota Tsusho as part of a new company called Toyota Battery Manufacturing and is expected to create 1,750 new U.S. jobs.

In October, Toyota said it would establish a new company and build a new U.S. automotive battery plant with Toyota Tsusho, the automaker's metals trading arm and a unit of the Toyota Group.