To deliver an electrified future within the USA, Honda has made two major investments that will enable the OEM to build EVs within the country based on Honda’s e:Architecture. Through the investments, the company also seeks to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 for all of its products and corporate activities.
“These investments will establish the foundation for Honda in the electrified era, as we begin producing EVs and the batteries that will power them in the US,” said Bob Nelson, executive vice president of corporate services at Honda.
To begin with, Honda will invest US$700m to retool three of its Ohio plants to enable the production of EVs and EV components. This will include the Marysville Auto Plant.
Having formed a new joint venture (JV) with LG Energy Solution, Honda will also invest US$3.5bn to establish a new EV battery plant in Fayette County, Ohio. As a result, 2,200 jobs will be created to make batteries exclusively for Honda EVs.
Honda will begin selling its EVs in 2024, with the introduction of the Honda Prologue and Acura ZDX fully electric SUVs co-developed with General Motors. By 2040, the OEM intends for all of its new vehicle sales in North America to be battery-electric and fuel-cell-electric vehicles.
In addition to building EVs and batteries in Ohio, Honda will leverage its expertise and resources within the area by building a new EV hub to aid in the rollout of EV production in North America. The company will use the hub to create the expertise needed for EV production, which will then be shared between the company’s other US-based auto plants.
To date, Honda has invested more than US$22bn in its US-based production facilities.