On April $25,2024,$ Honda Motor Co$.,$ Ltd$.$ announced its plans to build a comprehensive electric vehicle $($EV$)$ value chain based in Alliston, Ontario, Canada. The project will cost around $$11$ billion, and building is set to begin in $2028.$

New Honda EV Plant

Plans to build this new EV value chain plant are well underway. Once it$$s up and running, Honda says that the plant will be churning out $240,000$ EVs and $36$ GWh annually. Honda already has two manufacturing facilities in Ontario, but this new plant will add at least $1,000$ new jobs and spin off employment opportunities, i$.$e$.,$ in construction.

Jean Marc Leclerc, the President and CEO of Honda Canada Inc., highlighted the Canadian auto sector$$s standing for almost four decades as one of the best in the world. Calling the new Honda EV plant in Canada a $$historic investment$$ in the Canadian automobile industry, Leclerc also noted that this move depicts Honda$$s faith in the Canadian EV manufacturing ecosystem.

Honda EV Plant Joint Ventures

Plans for the new plant have also opened up important partnership opportunities for Honda. Teaming up with POSCO Future M Co$.,$ Ltd$.,$ Honda is planning to include a CAM$/$pCAM $($cathode active material and precursor$)$ processing plant, and, along with Asahi Kasei Corporation, a separator plant.

Final details, i$.$e$.,$ investments, evaluations, and negotiations are still being polished up$,$ and Honda aims to share more details within the next six months of the progress.

Honda$$s EV North American Strategy

The new EV plant comes as part of Honda$$s aim to achieve carbon neutrality across all activities and products by $2050.$ By $2024,$ Honda aims for $100\%$ of its sales to be battery electric vehicles $($BEVs$)$ and fuel cell electric vehicles $($FCEVs$).$ Honda is investing USD$$700$ million in their auto plants in Ohio to kickstart this venture, and also teaming up with LG Energy Solution to build a new EV battery plant at a further investment of around USD$$4\mathrm{.}4$ billion.

From sourcing materials to building the cars, Honda aims to start making EVs in Ohio by $2025,$ and share info from this hub with its other plants in North America, and the new EV plants in Canada, in an effort to make EVs more affordable by taking advantage of clean energy in Canada. They also plan to focus on recycling batteries to make the whole process more eco$-$friendly.

Honda EV Plant in Ontario, Canada$$Summary

Honda$$s plans for a new comprehensive EV value chain in Ontario, Canada, will not only produce cost$-$effective solutions for customers wanting to transition to clean energy transport, but will also open up job opportunities, and make the company even more profitable.

This investment, along with the joint venture partnerships, depicts Honda$$s commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by $2050.$ Honda$$s Global CEO, Toshihiro Mibe, noted that thanks to the support of the Ontario and Canadian governments. Honda will be able to strengthen its EV supply system, and increase the attractiveness and demand of EVs in North America.

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