A rumor concerning the supply chain for the Toyota Battery Manufacturing plant at the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite, which would be really bad news for Greensboro, turns out to be just that – a rumor.

The rumor going around is that Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina, which is building a $1.2 billion battery plant at the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite, was going to require its suppliers to be at least 30 miles from the plant.  The reason given was that Toyota did not want to compete with its supply chain for workforce.

The 30-mile radius would eliminate Greensboro and most of Guilford County from participating in the supply chain for the Toyota battery plant.

When asked about the rumor, Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan said, “I haven’t heard that and I don’t believe it’s true.”

However, Vaughan said she would check the rumor out and called back minutes later and said, “That is not true.  Toyota is focused on getting their facility up and running.  They have not had any talks with the city or the chamber about the supply chain.”

Vaughan added, “We’re counting on the supply chain.  That’s why we’re doing the 421 corridor study.”

Rumors about massive economic development projects like the Toyota battery plant and Boom Supersonic abound.  One rumor about Boom was that they would be testing their supersonic jets breaking the sound barrier frequently over Guilford County.  That also is not true.  Supersonic jets are not allowed to break the sound barrier over land, only over water.  So even when the Boom’s Overture goes into service, it will fly at subsonic speeds over land and supersonic speeds only over the ocean.

In fact, one of the reasons the Piedmont Triad International Airport was chosen as the location for the manufacturing facility for the Denver based company is that as far as air travel is concerned, Greensboro is not far from the Atlantic Ocean where the jets can be tested as supersonic speeds.

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