Honda also plans to invest an additional $700 million and add 300 jobs at three of its own factories in Ohio.
Honda announced the construction of a battery factory in conjunction with the LG company with an approximate investment of $4,400 million dollars. The development will be implemented in rural southern Ohio and is expected to hire 2,200 employees.
Honda, which announced its first factory in Ohio 45 years ago, seeks to turn the state at its electric vehicle hub in North America.
also plan invest $700 million and add 300 jobs at three of its own factories in Ohio to prepare them to start manufacturing electric vehicles and components.
The plant site is off Interstate 71 in Fayette County, about 40 miles southwest of the state capital of Columbus.
In addition, Honda’s assembly plants in Marysville and East Liberty, northeast of Columbus, and its engine plant in Anna, north of Dayton, will share in the $700 million investment. The Anna plant will manufacture boxes to hold the battery cellswhile the other two plants will build full electric vehicles.
When will the new plant start operating?
Construction of the battery plant will begin early next year, and mass production of bag-type lithium-ion cells will begin in late 2025. The plant will produce batteries exclusively for Honda vehicles assembled in North America.including the company’s luxury brand Acura.
Bob Nelson, executive vice president of Honda, said at a news conference Tuesday at the Ohio Statehouse that his company has found a strong partner in that state, where five of its 12 US factories are located.
The company is still working out the details of an incentive package with the state for the battery plant, which will be managed by the joint venture to be formed this year Nelson said.
The company’s workers in Ohio have been building gas-electric hybrid vehicles for years, and that experience will help in the switch to electric vehicles Nelson said.
The Marysville plant currently employs 3,500 people, while the East Liberty plant has 2,500. The Anna Engine Plant has about 2,300 workers.
Sales of electric vehicles are expected increase dramatically between now and 2030 in the US and around the worldbut even at the start of the next decade, they will account for just over a third of new vehicle sales in the country.
Consulting firm LMC Automotive expects electric vehicles to account for 5.6% of US sales this year, rising to 13.5% by 2025 and 36.4% in 2030.