Toyota Motor North America is investing $2.5 billion in a North Carolina plant in the Triad, where it will build batteries for electric vehicles.

Plans call for adding another 350 jobs.

“This plant will serve a central role in Toyota’s leadership toward a fully electrified future and will help us meet our goal of carbon neutrality in our vehicles and global operations by 2035,” Norm Bafunno, senior vice president of unit manufacturing and engineering for Toyota Motor North America, said to WRAL Tech Wire. 

Toyota announced on Wednesday plans to invest $5.6 billion in Japan and the U.S., with $1.3 billion earmarked for the North Carolina plant. That allocation has since grown to $2.5 billion.

This money will be used to boost the production of batteries for EVs. Not only are jobs being created with the investment, but tax incentives as well.

“This marks another significant milestone for our company,” Bafunno said.

Toyota hopes the plant will produce 1.2 million batteries a year. To do that, the plant will need to hire at least 1,750 workers. Production is planned to begin between 2024 and 2026. 

“Toyota could have chosen anywhere in the United States for this first battery place, and they chose us,” Gov. Roy Cooper said, “We’re encouraging more electric vehicles on the road and in our state government fleet, and as all of this progress continues, the world will look at North Carolina as a hub of clean energy and clean-energy jobs.”