By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Honda Motor and LG Energy Solution said on Tuesday they will build a new joint venture $4.4 billion battery plant in Ohio.
The two companies had announced the plan in August but had not settled on a U.S. location. They said they are initially committing to investing $3.5 billion and creating 2,200 jobs but said the overall investment is projected to reach $4.4 billion.
Honda will separately invest $700 million to re-tool several existing plants for production of electric vehicles.
The Japanese automaker will retool three Ohio engine plants — including its largest engine plants in the world and add 300 new jobs — as it moves to more electric vehicle production.
Honda plans to begin production and sales of Honda EVs in North America in 2026, based on its new Honda e:Architecture.
The joint venture is pending regulatory approvals.
The two companies plan to begin construction in early 2023 and aim to complete the new facility about 40 miles southwest of Columbus by the end of 2024.
The plant aims to have approximately 40GWh of annual capacity as it starts mass production of lithium-ion batteries by the end of 2025.
EV batteries produced at the new JV plant will be provided to Honda auto plants to produce EVs to be sold in North America. Honda aims to make EVs and fuel cell represent 100% of its vehicle sales by 2040.
In April, Honda and General Motors said they would develop a series of lower-priced electric vehicles based on a new joint platform, producing potentially millions of cars from 2027 in a bid to beat Tesla in sales.
That announcement expanded on plans for GM to begin building two electric SUVs for Honda starting in 2024 – the Honda Prologue and an Acura model.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Alexander Smith)
