Honda & LG Energy Solution to build battery plant in Ohio
Honda and LG Energy Solution have begun constructing their joint venture battery cell factory in the US state of Ohio. The announced factory near Jeffersonville is expected to be operational by the end of 2025 with an annual production capacity of approximately 40 GWh.
The two partners announced the plant in the summer of 2022 along with investments totalling 4.4 billion US dollars. Around 700 million US dollars will flow into the conversion of three existing car and powertrain plants for the production of electric cars based on the new Honda e:Architecture in North America in 2026. Another 3.5 billion US dollars will be invested in the joint venture with LG Energy Solution (LGES) for the construction of the joint venture’s battery factory. The pouch cells produced at the new Ohio plant will exclusively supply Honda plants in North America.
The joint venture L-H Battery Company was founded in January just passed, and the location in Fayette County, Ohio, has been confirmed. Honda says construction is now set to rapidly scale up and should be completed by the end of 2024. The plant is to support the start of mass production in North America at the end of 2025.
The electric models from Honda and its Acura brand that will be launched before 2026 will still use the Ultium platform from General Motors. Since LGES is GM’s joint venture partner with its Ultium Cells, the electric Hondas produced within the USA will still be using battery cells from LGES even before the battery plant is finished. To what extent the battery cells from Ultium Cells and those from the battery factory under construction by Honda and LG differ or have similarities in cell chemistry has not yet been revealed.
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