LIBERTY, N.C. — The future of car manufacturing is being built right here in the Triad. Toyota officially opened its first U.S. battery production plant this week in Liberty, a nearly $14 billion investment that promises to transform both the company’s future and North Carolina’s economy.

The sprawling 1,800-acre site in Randolph County, known as Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina (TBMNC) , will produce lithium-ion batteries for hybrid, plug-in hybrid and fully electric vehicles. It marks Toyota’s largest investment in the United States to date and could eventually employ more than 5,000 workers by 2034.

“When a company of the scale and significance of Toyota plants a seed in the ground — $14 billion — it’s gonna eventually be 5,000 jobs,” said Gov. Josh Stein during

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