Honda and LG New Energy North American battery plant may be located in Ohio

According to foreign media reports, Honda Motor and LGNew Energy's new North American battery plant may be located in Ohio, people familiar with the matter said.

Ohio is a strong candidate because Honda already has an auto plant in Ohio where LG New Energy can ship batteries to it, one of the people said.The two companies have yet to make a final decision, so the final location could still change, according to people familiar with the matter.A representative for LG New Energy said the company could not comment on speculation.A Honda spokesman declined to comment.

Image credit: Honda

Honda plans tospend 5 trillion yen ($38 billion) inelectric vehicles over the next decade to achieve its goal of completely phasing out fossil-fuel vehicles by 2040.By 2030, Honda will launch 30 electric vehicles and produce more than 2 million electric vehicles annually.

While Honda and GM have teamed up to develop affordable electric vehicles powered by GM's Ultium batteries, Honda said in April it was exploring the possibility of forming a joint venture with another company to produce the batteries.

In January, it was reported that Honda and LG New Energy were discussing buildingafactory with an annual capacity of 40 GWh that could supply batteries for 600,000 electric vehicles a year.The plant could cost about 4 trillion won ($3.2 billion).

LG New Energy is working with automakers to increase battery production capacity.In the next three to four years, LG New Energy plans to build five new battery factories in North America, including three factories with GM in the United States, a factory with Stellantis in Canada, and a separate factory.Separately, the company plans to operate a 110 GWh and 100 GWh plant in China and Poland, respectively.