TOKYO, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Japan will hand out more

subsidies for electric-vehicle battery production, pledging as

much as $2.4 billion in support for related projects by Toyota

Motor ( TM ) and other major companies, as it seeks to

strengthen its battery supply chain.

The government will support 12 projects for storage

batteries or those for their parts, materials or production

equipment by up to 350 billion yen ($2.44 billion), Minister of

Economy, Trade and Industry Ken Saito told reporters.

"We hope that these efforts will strengthen Japan's storage

battery supply chain and the storage battery industry's

competitiveness," Saito said.

The move will help expand the country's production capacity

for storage batteries by around 50% to 120 gigawatt-hours (GWh),

from 80 GWh currently, Japanese media reported earlier on

Friday.

The government backing included support for investments by

Toyota ( TM ), Nissan Motor ( NSANF ), and joint projects that Panasonic

Holdings' ( PCRFF ) energy unit would run with automakers Subaru

and Mazda ( MZDAF ), respectively, Saito said.

The latest support comes after the government pledged nearly

$1 billion in subsidies for storage battery production in June

last year.

Toyota ( TM ) would invest a total of 250 billion yen in two

subsidiaries to build battery plants in Hyogo and Fukuoka

prefectures, according to the Yomiuri newspaper.

However, a Toyota ( TM ) spokesperson said the automaker has not

made any announcement regarding such projects, adding it has

been making various efforts to increase the production capacity

of EV batteries.

Nissan ( NSANF ) said in a statement it had received certification

from the government for a plan to produce lithium-iron-phosphate

batteries.

The automaker aimed to install such batteries in

mini-vehicles from the 2028 business year, targeting a domestic

production capacity 5 GWh for which it would get up to 55.5

billion yen in support, it said.

Panasonic ( PCRFF ) said there was nothing it could say beyond

previously-made announcements, while Subaru and Mazda ( MZDAF ) did not

reply to comment requests.

Panasonic's ( PCRFF ) energy unit, which also makes batteries for

Tesla, previously signed an automotive battery supply

agreement with Mazda ( MZDAF ) and another agreement with Subaru.

($1 = 143.1600 yen)