Honda Motor (NYSE:HMC) Co Ltd of Japan and South Korea's LG Energy Solution have announced Ohio as the site of their planned $4.4 billion joint venture battery plant in the US.
The two companies unveiled plans for the joint venture (JV) US battery plant in August but had not by then settled on a location.
In a statement Tuesday, the firms said they are initially committing to investing $3.5 billion and creating 2,200 jobs at the plant but said the overall investment is projected to reach $4.4 billion.
The two companies plan to begin construction of the new plant in early 2023 and aim to complete the facility about 40 miles southwest of Columbus, Ohio, 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.
Honda said it will separately invest $700 million to retool three Ohio plants and add 300 new jobs, as it seeks higher electric vehicle (EV) production. The company will produce battery cases at its Anna, Ohio, engine plant that will be combined with battery modules from the JV and then installed in EVs built at two other Ohio plants.
The new venture is the latest in a string of battery plants announced since the US Congress in August approved billions of dollars in tax incentives and grants for automakers to encourage increased production of EVs and batteries in the United States. It also approved new consumer tax credits to incentivize North American battery and EV production.
Automakers also face heightened requirements from California, the largest state car market, which is mandating that companies must stop selling gasoline-only vehicles by 2035 and have EVs represent at least 80% of their sales by then.
President Joe Biden praised the Honda-LG announcement, saying the companies were "committing more than $5 billion toward electric vehicle battery manufacturing and factory retooling across the state". Biden wants 50% of all new vehicles assembled by 2030 to be EVs or plug-in hybrids.
Honda has said it plans to begin production and sales of EVs in North America in 2026, based on its new Honda e:Architecture.
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