Toyota to boost auto battery output capacity 7-fold at $5.6 bil. cost

Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday it will spend up to 730 billion yen ($5.6 billion) to raise auto battery output in Japan and the United States to boost its global capacity more than seven-fold as it focuses more on battery-powered electric vehicles.Toyota will ramp up its annual battery production capacity to up to 46 gigawatt-hours worldwide from the current 6 gigawatt-hours, which includes batteries for hybrid vehicles, by adding capacity in the two key markets.The increased capacity will be the equivalent of battery packs for 560,000 of Toyota's bZ4X electric crossover sport-utility ve…READ FULL ARTICLE