Honda is considering a new, large EV-related investment in North America to prepare for mass-electrification.
According to Nikkei, Honda might build a $14 billion (2 trillion yen) all-electric car factory in Canada, accompanied by a battery cell factory. Interestingly, the battery production might "involve in-house" solutions, like next-generation solid-state batteries, the report indicates. Production of the new cars might start as soon as 2028.
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Honda plans to sell mostly electric cars within 10 years
Honda set a target to achieve an all-electric car share of 40% out of its total car sales in North America by 2030. By 2035, this number is expected to increase to 80%.
Nothing is certain at this point, but if the Japanese media reports on something like this, usually we can assume that something serious is on the table. $14 billion is a really huge amount, which would be enough for very large vehicle and battery factories, as well as for necessary technologies.
In terms of location, there are multiple sites under consideration, according to the article, including one next to an existing Honda factory in the province of Ontario.
Currently, Honda's all-electric lineup includes only two, soon-to-be-launched models—2024 Honda Prologue and 2024 Acura ZDX—based on the General Motors' Ultium platform, which will also be produced at GM's sites.
In the longer term, Honda intends to develop and produce its in-house all-electric cars based on the upcoming new e:Architecture EV platform.
The company also has a 40-gigawatt-hour battery joint venture project with LG Energy Solution (LGES) in Ohio, which is supposed to go online by the end of 2025.
Meanwhile, Honda ditched its plan to make affordable all-electric cars together with General Motors, which also indicates that now the company will have to invest more on its own to develop and launch its own products.
