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However, there is growing concern as to whether the battery plant will ever reach full production.

The first series of batteries are charging the electrified Toyota Corolla Cross vehicles being made in the Mazda Toyota Manufacturing plant in Huntsville, Ala., the company said last week.

In an interesting economic-development twist, the Liberty megasite was among the runners-up in consideration in 2017 for the Mazda-Toyota joint facility.

Next up in September will be similar HEV battery shipments to its Scott County, Ky., plant for its Camry sedan line. Toyota’s entire line of Camrys became electrified with the 2025 edition.

The Liberty plant will feature 14 production lines at full production: 10 dedicated to battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and four to hybrid electric vehicles.

“Our dedicated workforce (in Liberty), comprising nearly 2,000 team members, is excited to assemble batteries that will power future Toyota and Lexus hybrid-electric, plug-in hybrid electric and battery electric vehicles,” Toyota Battery Manufacturing N.C. said in a statement.

The shipments come just more than 3½ years after Toyota Motor Co. committed in December 2021 to what has become the largest single economic-development project in North Carolina history at $13.9 billion, along with a projected 5,100 employees at full production.

Full production concerns

The Trump administration is targeting the end of federal tax credits worth up to $7,500 for purchasing an electric vehicle made in the U.S., as well as a $4,000 tax credit for a used EV purchase.

Those cuts became a reality Thursday when the Republican majority in the U.S. House approved the U.S. Senate version of President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” that eliminates the tax credits as part of making permanent certain tax cuts for wealthy Americans and corporations.

A lower-priced 2025 EV model, such as a Nissan Leaf, sells for about $29,300. When factoring in the federal tax credit, the Leaf would cost about $21,800 for a discount of 25%.

Meanwhile, the federal tax credit would knock the sticker price for a $39,000 EV sedan, such as a Camry or Hyundai Ioniq 6, down by 20%.

The U.S. Senate version of the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” would have the tax credit for new and used EV purchases expire Sept. 30, rather than the end of the year in the U.S. House version.

According to The Associated Press, the bill also cuts the provision that would have extended until the end of 2026 a credit for automakers that had not made 200,000 qualifying EVs for U.S. sale. Toyota has exceeded that production total.

All 10 House Republicans from North Carolina voted for the initial House version of the “Big Beautiful Bill.”

since the passage of the Biden administration’s 2022 federal Inflation Reduction Act, according to clean-energy advocacy group .

The bulk of the investment commitments at $19.5 billion have been made in U.S. House districts represented by Republicans, particularly U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson, R-9th, whose district includes the Toyota battery plant.

There have been at least 11,050 clean-energy job pledged in the 10 U.S. House districts represented by Republicans, or 86.7% of the 12,757 overall total.

North Carolina tops the nation in clean-energy capital investment commitments, as well as fifth for project commitments at 29.

For the U.S. Senate version of the controversial bill, Sen. Ted Budd voted in favor and Sen. Thom Tillis voted against.

Budd said in touting his vote for the bill that “the people of North Carolina deserve more of their hard-earned wages, a more secure border, a reinvigorated military, responsible spending reforms for government programs, and a thriving economy.”

Budd did not mention ending the clean-energy tax credits in his statement.

He said that as part of “unlocking economic growth and American manufacturing, this legislation will create a renaissance in American manufacturing by delivering full expensing for companies that build new factories and invest in equipment and machinery.”

Full expensing, according to , represents implementing a tax policy that allows businesses to deduct the full cost of their qualifying investments immediately in the year the expense is incurred.

The results are supposed to be increased productivity from workers who become more efficient when using newer equipment and technology, as well as higher worker wages and new jobs in manufacturing, construction and related industries.

“This will help create new, good-paying jobs,” Budd said.

All in on EVs

Toyota announced in April 2024 that all 2025 versions of its top-selling Camry sedan would be hybrid vehicles.

Toyota Manufacturing North America reported in January it sold just more than 1 million Toyota and Lexus electrified vehicles in the U.S. during 2024, comprising 43.1% of 2.33 million vehicles sold.

On Wednesday, of 320,817, up 29.7% year over year and representing 48.1% of total sales volume.

“Steady demand for our Toyota and Lexus brands resulted in strong sales throughout the second quarter,” said Mark Templin, chief operating officer for Toyota Manufacturing North America. “Our lineup of 32 electrified vehicles was a big part of that draw.”

Toyota’s elevated commitment to EV production, compared with some of its top U.S. competitors, is viewed as a positive so far, according to economists.

“Toyota, relative to other EV carmakers, is in a much better position because it is not currently (as) reliant on consumer EV tax credits,” said Zagros Madjd-Sadjadi, an economics professor at Winston-Salem State University.

Madjd-Sadjadi said the Liberty battery plant “appears to be grandfathered in, and thus will still be eligible to receive the federal production tax credit and the federal investment tax credit — both being curtailed, but not eliminated, by the ‘Big Beautiful Bill.’”

Madjd-Sadjadi said Toyota’s U.S. production appears to be benefiting from the uncertainty of Trump administration tariffs.

“The roughly 8% decline in the value of the U.S. dollar relative to the Japanese Yen since Jan. 20 (when President Donald Trump took office) is reducing costs for Toyota in the U.S. relative to producing in Japan,” Madjd-Sadjadi said.

“That is good for Toyota’s bottom line, at least with respect to battery manufacturing.”

Toyota, with major battery production operations in the Triad, “is certainly not immune to the downstream effects of the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ and its repealing and reducing of EV and Green incentives,” said John H. Boyd, founder and principal with global site-selection firm The Boyd Co. of Boca Raton, Fla.

“But, it is much better positioned than other automakers with operations on U.S. soil to take this legislative pivot in stride.

Boyd said that Toyota’s “more cautious clean energy moves have, in fact, led to its low ranking by Greenpeace compared to other automakers and their decarbonization programs.”

“Simply put, Toyota is a leader in hybrids, not pure EV’s, and that will insulate it somewhat from the economic fallout from the bill.”

Boyd also cited Toyota’s local and state economic incentive packages “provide Toyota with somewhat of cushion when the blll’s rollback of clean energy incentives at the consumer and production level kick in.”

“Without these credits, production costs will likely rise, impacting pricing decisions for Toyota products, eating into profit margins and potentially cutting back on production and staffing at the Liberty plant.”

Making an appeal

A coalition of 28 automobile dealerships across the country, led by the national offices of CarMax and Carvana, sent a letter to the U.S. Senate on June 26 to urge caution on ending the federal EV tax credits.

“We urge you to reject the provisions in the budget reconciliation process that would increase costs for Americans who want to drive electric vehicles,” the letter stated.

“For years, dealerships like ours have invested billions of dollars as small businesses to serve our communities, to improve EV education, and offer exceptional service. We need a stable and consistent market for our dealerships to plan, invest and grow.”

Letting the EV-related Inflation Reduction Act tax credits expire “pose a serious threat to our business continuity and the industry’s long-term investments based on previous market signals and American leadership,” the dealerships said.

“Collectively, changes on such a rapid timeline would introduce significant uncertainty and deter investment.”

Even though the tax credit focus on EVs has been on new purchases, the dealerships said used EV rebates “in particular have provided a valuable bridge for working- and middle-class Americans.”

“Many of us have built substantial used EV businesses in markets with a lower cost of living, selling to customers who can then reduce their monthly household costs,” the letter stated. “For many of our working-class customers, the used EV rebate becomes the down payment that enables a vehicle purchase at all.”

If the Republican majorities in the U.S. House and Senate are determined to end the tax credits, the coalition said, “a gradual sunset, rather than an abrupt repeal, is essential to serve the interests of American consumers, as well as car dealerships and the broader auto industry.”

“A slow phase-out would ensure market stability,” it continued. “A multi-year transitional period would also provide the opportunity for Americans to continue adopting cleaner vehicles more affordably.”

Hard to pivot

A project of the size and scale of the Toyota battery plant “is difficult to pivot from the deeper a firm gets in the process,” said John Quinterno, principal with South by North Strategies Ltd., a Chapel Hill research company specializing in economic and social policy.

“The EV-related provisions in the megabill arguably are very short-sighted. Transitioning to an entirely new infrastructure requires government support and policy, and Congress appears to be just walking away entirely from that and doubling down on traditional internal combustion vehicles at a time when the rest of the world is moving away from them. The American auto sector may find itself confined only to selling to a domestic market and losing out on the global stage.”

Global auto manufacturers, such as Toyota, “likely will find themselves cross-pressured,” Quinterno said.

“On the one hand, they likely see where the rest of the world is going and will want to compete in those markets. On the other hand, the U.S. still is a sizable market,” he said. “Such firms also are likely aware that maintaining operations in the U.S. is practical given the Trump administration’s aggressive actions around trade and tariffs, even with traditional allies like Japan.

“They may choose to make their larger investments in more stable environments.”

Bob Keefe, E2’s executive director, said after the U.S. Senate passage Tuesday of the bill that “America’s economy and energy security just took a massive step backward — one that may be hard to recover if not fixed immediately.”

“This bill will slam the brakes on made-in-America energy projects, push businesses to take their factories and investments overseas, and drive up energy costs for families and businesses,” he said.

“It’s reckless, it’s shortsighted, and it hands our competitors like China an open invitation to lead while we fall behind,” Keefe said. “President Trump wants to dramatically increase U.S. energy production. This bill does the opposite.”

Automobile trade publication EVXL projects that the loss of tax credits “could strain EV supply chains, as manufacturers may scale back production to adjust to reduced demand.”

“The bill imposes restrictions on projects using materials from countries like China after 2027,” the EVXL article stated. “This could raise EV battery costs, as many rely on imported components, with prices potentially increasing by 10%-15%, according to clean energy experts.”