Subject to regulatory approval, the new joint venture between Honda and LG Energy should begin operations later this year. In this case, the construction of the plant will begin in the first half of 2023, and mass production of lithium-ion batteries will start by the end of 2025.
The design capacity of the enterprise will reach 40 GWh of equivalent capacity per year, which is enough to produce from 700,000 to 800,000 medium-sized electric vehicles. In the equity of the joint venture, Honda Motor will hold a 49% stake and LG Energy the remaining 51%. The location of the plant has not yet been announced.
It will be the first plant of its kind for Honda Motor. Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe said: “Honda is committed to local procurement of EV batteries, which are a critical component of EVs. This US initiative with LG Energy, the world's leading battery manufacturer, will be part of that Honda approach."
In the next couple of years, Honda Motor intends to use the General Motors Ultium platform and batteries from LG Energy Solution when releasing electric vehicles for the US market. By 2026, Honda Motor plans to launch the production of electric vehicles on its own platform, and by 2030 to increase the production of such vehicles in the United States to 800,000 units.
At the same time, the Japanese automotive company is also independently developing a new type of battery at a research center in Japan. The pilot battery production line will start operating in the spring of 2024. It will cost $310 million.
Sources: Nikkei, TechCrunch
