Japan has pledged up to US$2.4 billion (RM10.48 billion) in subsidies for electric vehicle battery production, reported Reuters.
The financial support pledged will be for 12 projects for storage batteries or for their parts, materials and production equipment, Japan minister of economy, trade and industry Ken Saito was quoted as saying. This financial backing by the Japanese government will support investments by Toyota and Nissan, as well as joint projects that Panasonic is running with Subaru and Mazda, said Saito.
“We hope that these efforts will strengthen Japan’s storage battery supply chain and the storage battery industry’s competitiveness,” Saito was quoted as saying. The financial support for battery production will help the grow the country’s annual production capacity for batteries by around 50%, from 80 GWh to 120 GWh, Reuters cited Japanese reports.
Toyota would invest a total of around 245 billion yen (RM7.46 billion) with battery subsidiaries Prime Planet Energy & Solutions and Primearth EV Energy to grow production capacity for solid-state and prismatic batteries by 9 GWh.
Battery supply from the Toyota subsidiaries will begin in November 2026, and the plan includes the construction of battery plants in Hyogo and Fukuoka prefectures, according to a newspaper, reported Reuters.
Nissan said in a statement that it had received certification from the Japanese government for a plan to produce lithium-iron phosphate batteries, and the automaker plans to have these batteries in compact vehicles from 2028, aiming for a domestic production capacity of 5 GWh annually.
Meanwhile, Panasonic Energy and Subaru said in a joint statement that the two companies will set up a plant in the Gunma prefecture for the supply of cylindrical lithium-ion batteries from 2028.
Panasonic Energy will supply Subaru with the cylindrical lithium-ion batteries from a plant in Osaka from 2027, and a total investment of 463 billion yen (RM14.1 billion) aims to achieve 16 GWh in annual battery capacity from the Gunma plant by 2030, while another 4 GWh annually will come from the Osaka plant, according to the companies.
Panasonic Energy will also make EV batteries for Mazda from 2027 at its plants in Suminoe and Kaizuka, which will be packaged by Mazda, according to a joint statement by Panasonic and Mazda.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
I wonder if the EU will impose huge tariffs to these Japanese EVs as well?! Or are they just picking on China! Capitalism only works when it suits them.
OMG Tesla first car launches in 2008 that uses a Li-Ion battery now Japan going into 2028 still setting factory for Li-Ion factory?
Come on MG already confirm using Solid State battery next year 2025 and if it all goes well then this will be the future.
GO JAPAN! You can’t beat an evil regime with goodness. Tit for tat!
Well, you are at least correct calling Japan evil
nama suits you, did you forget which country conquer malaysia and did many atrocities during ww2?
US and Europe sanctioned China for subsidizing their EV. Now Japan subsidised their car manufacturers too. Will US and Europe sanction Japan too? I doubt they will.
Toyota said EV adoptions won’t surpass 30% of total vehicles on the road worldwide , so the future is green hydrogen . So EV for them is for show only .
No one wants the Mirai even when Toyota basically giving away for free.
Yes Toyota. Now you can produce your Solid State Battery which you have been talking about with the subsidized price. What are you waiting for?
Japanese govt learn from
Germanay’s VW failure
Manufacturers can’t
Move-on from ICE
Why? Why abandoned your diehard extreme supporters of H2 fuel cell owners drivers?
No one wants the Toyota Mirai even when given for basically free bcos hydrogen is so expensive now. Oh, also small issue of no hydrogen to fill up their Mirai bcos those pumps keep malfunctioning.