Honda to build EV and battery factories in Canada
According to the manufacturer, the total investment amounts to 15 billion Canadian dollars, equivalent to about 11 billion US dollars. However, that included investments made by its partners, Asahi Kasei and Posco.
Let’s first look at the EV and the battery manufacturing plant that Honda will operate independently. Both will be built in Alliston, in the Canadian province of Ontario. Both should begin production in 2028. With regards to the EV factory, Honda states that “once fully operational, the EV plant will have a production capacity of 240,000 EVs per year.” The yearly capacity for the battery plant will be 36 Gigawatt hours (GWh) per year.
Moreover, Honda expects to create 1,000 new jobs at both facilities “in addition to securing the current employment level of 4,200 associates at its two existing manufacturing facilities in Ontario.”
That is all the details Honda has shared so far. However, the manufacturer also notes that more information will follow in six months once it has completed negotiations with its joint venture partners and evaluated the scope of its investment.
As mentioned above, Honda will also set up two battery plants with Asahi Kasei and Posco. The former announced yesterday that it will construct an integrated plant in Ontario “for the base film manufacturing and coating of Hipore wet-process lithium-ion battery (LIB) separator.” The company will invest about 180 billion yen in the new facility, which equals about 1.15 billion dollars. Commercial operations will begin in 2027.
In its press release, Honda confirmed that it would set up a joint venture with Asahi Kasei for the separator plant. Yesterday, the latter said that both companies had reached a basic agreement and a joint venture was still up for discussion.
The fourth plant to process cathode active material and precursor (CAM/pCAM) will be set up in a joint venture partnership with Posco Future M Co., Ltd. “The purpose of this basic agreement is to steadily execute respective electrification strategies by ensuring steady procurement of high-performance batteries in the North American electrification market, where mid- to long-term growth is expected”, Posco states in its press release. The company has not provided any further details. The joint venture will be established by the end of the year.
“Honda is making progress in our global initiatives toward the realization of our 2050 carbon neutrality goal”, says Toshihiro Mibe, Global CEO of Honda. “We will strengthen our EV supply system and capability with an eye toward a future increase in EV demand in North America.”
The planned Canadian electric vehicle plant would be Honda’s second in North America. The carmaker alreadywants to manufacture batteries with LG Energy Solutions in the US state of Ohio from 2025. The factory near Jeffersonville will have an annual capacity of 40 GWh. Honda will also convert its existing Honda plants in Ohio, the Marysville Auto Plant (MAP), East Liberty Auto Plant (ELP) and Anna Engine Plant (AEP), to start production and sales of electric cars based on the new Honda e:Architecture in 2026.
This all comes as Honda wants to increase EV sales in North America. According to Nikkei, North America accounts for roughly 40 per cent of Honda’s global sales. Most of the vehicles sold there still have combustion engines. However, the Japanese want electric cars to account for 40 per cent of sales in North America by 2030 – and even 80 per cent by 2035.
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