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Toyota invests in EV battery production in Japan, U.S.

16 Comments
By YURI KAGEYAMA

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16 Comments
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Where from are they getting the raw materials for these batteries?

The deserts of the southwestern US have an abundance of the necessary minerals. For decades mining these was not as profitable as mining them abroad so few were mined in the US. China has deliberately subsidized the production of many such minerals specifically to undercut US and other foreign mines and corner the market. That does not mean the necessary minerals only exist in China. They are fairly abundant. Japan for example has deposits of so-called "rare Earth minerals" sufficient to meet global demand for centuries, but they are on the sea floor within Japan's EEZ and will be more costly to mine than surface deposits. California has an abundance of these minerals too but Chinese minerals are so cheap they undercut the mines in California and forced them out of business. And to add irony, the one mine in California producing rare Earth metals is partially Chinese owned and the US Defense Department has prohibited the use of that mine's minerals in US military equipment as a result. There are other mines however coming on line.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Strange... EV battery materials are not only awful for the environment to mine, often in terrible conditions by underage child labour, but are also in incredibly low supply.

Number one, cobalt is being phased out of the newest battery designs for the exact reason you mention. Alternatives are already proven. Second, California can produce more lithium than it is ever expected the US will need from the brines used in the many geothermal power plants in the Imperial Valley. The technology used will not produce the kinds of hazardous wastes normally associated with lithium production.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@Zoroto I am laughing so hard!! Can some one find my glasses? To qualify for the full credit, the electric vehicle must contain a battery built in North America with 40% of the metals mined or recycled on the continent.

Where from are they getting the raw materials for these batteries?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Billions on batteries and so little if anything on humans! Save the People with those billions.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I am disappointed by Toyota for "closely monitoring" the situation after it's been found that their ambassador Teruyuki Kagawa sexually assaulted Ginza hostess in very much awful way a few years ago. I was looking for the news to be on japantoday. Still waiting.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/08/26/national/teruyuki-kagawa-groping-apology/

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Strange... EV battery materials are not only awful for the environment to mine, often in terrible conditions by underage child labour, but are also in incredibly low supply. To top off the impossible task of supply, what happens to used EV batteries? More environmental waste. You simply need to research more deeply how EV batteries are simply not the way forward. How do you think they are charged? That's right, fossil-fuelled plants to produce the energy. Short term EVs seem so appealing to a person who hasn't researched much about them, but long term we are looking at a new environmental disaster with the batteries.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Too little, too late.

Toyota choked to switch to EV and they are now trying to catch up with the other car makers. And seems like they are still reluctant to do so. Toyota has been one good mirror to the Japanese economy, let's hope Tesla will not damage Toyota like Apple did to the phone makers in Japan a few years back.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Toyota is investing 730 billion yen ($5.6 billion) in Japan and the U.S. to boost production of batteries for electric vehicles, the Japanese automaker said Wednesday.

A bunch of money invested in something that is exceedingly damaging to the environment.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

I don't see how all the power grisds around the world can handle the big increase in electrical draw when there is going to be a dramatic increase in electric car ownership. Especially since they are banning fossil fuel and nuclear energy. Right now where I live, in the US (Silicon Valley), the electrical grid has rolling blackouts when people are using the air conditioners too much. 80% of the world energy is still fossil fuel based. On top of that, what about the issue with disposal of toxic batteries?

I don't think electric cars are the future unless they create in technologies in creating energy or find new energy technologies to fuel cars.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Where from are they getting the raw materials for these batteries?

That's the elephant in the room.

My guess is that even with its BEV lineup, Toyota with its hybrids, hydrogen technology, etc. is going to bide time as the battery supply chains mature.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Good decision.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

“there is more than one option for achieving carbon neutrality,”

Probably not all such options were able to be commercialized?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

In 2035 the sale of gasoline and diesel powered cars and vans will be banned by the EU and at the very least in the US by the state of California. As with vehicle emissions standards, other US states are sure to follow California's lead. Toyota has to have viable electric vehicles for those markets by then. They have 13 years to do so. I am confident they will. They are not going to simply walk away from those markets.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

and also without having to rely on nuke energy.

Impossible, Japan is going to have to nuclear power in the energy mix.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

To qualify for the full credit, the electric vehicle must contain a battery built in North America with 40% of the metals mined or recycled on the continent.

If the above is true, it's good news the US is trying to reduce its links to the the unstable whims of global supply chains and untrustworthy countries like China and Russia, that might threaten another war over resource control.

If Japan is going to eventually have more electric vehicles, It would be good to read that Toyota and other major corporations in Japan are investing in alternative ways to generate electricity, without having to rely on foreign countries to burn huge amounts of polluting fossil fuels, and also without having to rely on nuke energy.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

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