Honda Motor Company announced an agreement with China's Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) to purchase 123 GWh of batteries for pure electric vehicles from 2024 through 2030.
The deal follows a 2020 agreement signed between CATL and Honda to form a comprehensive strategy alliance on new energy vehicle (NEV) batteries. The initial agreement has enabled the two companies to cooperate in a broad range of areas including joint development, stable supply, and the recycling and reuse of batteries.
Now, as Honda is scaling up production and launching its pure electric vehicle sub-brand e:N in China, the companies have agreed to further strengthen their partnership.
From 2024 through 2030, Honda will purchase 123 GWh of CATL's batteries for pure electric vehicles in China, which will be made in CATL's production base in Yichun, east China's Jiangxi Province. The massive amount of batteries will enable Honda to build more than 1 million electric vehicles, securing a long-term stable battery supply for the Japanese automaker.
The CATL deal proves that Honda is serious about its EV expansion in China, which started this spring with the e:NS1 and e:NP1 electric crossovers, the first models of the e:N series of EVs announced in October 2021. Essentially the same car, the e:NS1 and e:NP1 are not built on an EV-dedicated platform, however, as Honda plans to launch the e:N Architecture—its first EV-only platform—in 2024.
Models built on this architecture will start rolling out in 2024 from two EV-dedicated plants that are currently under construction. One is being built with joint venture partner Dongfeng Motor in Wuhan, the other with its other local partner GAC Motor in Guangzhou. Both will have an annual capacity of 120,000 units.
Honda said last year it would launch a total of eight EV models based on the e:N Architecture. In October 2021, the carmaker previewed three of them with the e:N SUV, e:N Coupe and e:N GT concepts. The latter evolved into the e:N2 sedan concept teased last month.
Honda pledged to launch 10 new EVs in China over the next five years, including the e:NS1 and e:NP1 twins. Some of these models will be exported globally.
