Honda Motor has revealed its plans to make an investment of about $11bn in Canada to build an extensive electric vehicle (EV) value chain in the country.
The Japanese automotive company’s new move, which includes commitment from joint venture (JV) partners, is aimed at boosting the EV supply system and capability to meet a future increase in EV demand in North America.
As part of the plan, Honda Motor has commenced assessments of the requirements needed to set up an advanced and environmentally responsible Honda EV plant and a separate Honda EV battery plant in Alliston, Ontario.
The proposed Honda EV value chain also comprises a cathode active material and precursor (CAM/pCAM) processing plant through a JV partnership with POSCO Future. It also includes a separator plant through a JV partnership with Asahi Kasei.
Honda Motor aims to start EV production in 2028. Upon reaching its full operations, the EV plant is slated to have a production capacity of 240,000 EVs per year and the EV battery plant is expected to have a capacity of 36GWh per year.
Apart from maintaining the current employment level of 4,200 associates at its two existing manufacturing facilities in Ontario, the automotive company intends to add at least 1,000 new associates for the EV and EV battery manufacturing plants.
The investment in the new EV facilities is also expected to generate significant spinoff jobs across all sites, including in the construction sector.
Besides, as the initial step towards attaining its electrification objective in North America, Honda Motors has designated its existing auto production plants in Ohio, US as its EV Hub for production.
This includes the retooling of existing plants with a $700m investment and the establishment of a JV EV battery plant with LG Energy Solution that involves an anticipated investment of $4.4bn.
Honda Motors CEO Toshihiro Mibe said: “In North America, following the initiative to establish our EV production system capability in the U.S., we will now begin formal discussions toward the establishment of a comprehensive EV value chain here in Canada, with the support of the governments of Canada and Ontario.
“We will strengthen our EV supply system and capability with an eye toward a future increase in EV demand in North America.”