• Exclusive Content
  • Events
  • Endeavor Business Media Energy
    1. e-Mobility

    LG joining Honda in $4.4B EV Battery Manufacturing project in the U.S.

    Aug. 31, 2022
    The joint venture would produce lithium-ion batteries in the U.S. to power Honda and Acura EVs. The partners will invest about $4.4 billion and build a new battery manufacturing facility which can produce close to 40-GWh of capacity annually
    Lg Battery 630f8c388db78

    South Korea utility-scale and e-mobility battery supplier LG Energy Solution is the latest energy storage firm to reveal plans for future manufacturing operations in the United States.

    LG and Honda Motor Co. this week announced plans to create a joint venture to produce lithium-ion batteries in the U.S. to power Honda and Acura electric vehicle models. The partners will invest about $4.4 billion and build a new battery manufacturing facility which can produce close to 40-GWh of capacity annually.

    In recent weeks, battery companies such as Fluence Energy, Factorial and automaker Ford have promised to expand their supply chains and in many cases bring the production deeper into the U.S.

    "Our joint venture with Honda, which has significant brand reputation, is yet another milestone in our mid- to long-term strategy of promoting electrification in the fast-growing North American market," said Youngsoo Kwon, CEO of LG Energy Solution. “Since our ultimate goal is to earn our valued customers’ trust and respect, we aspire to position ourselves as a leading battery innovator, working with Honda in achieving its core initiatives for electrification, as well as providing sustainable energy solutions to discerning end consumers.”

    LG Energy Solution is a spinoff of global firm LG Chem. The battery research and development firm has worked on supply deals with EV makers such as General Motors, Stellantis, Ford and Hyundai.

    LG also has supplied utility-scale battery storage systems for utilities, grid support and microgrid projects worldwide. Its battery technologies is primarily focused around lithium-ion chemistry, which currently makes up 80 to 90 percent of new and longtime-installed battery projects.

    Billions invested in Expansion of the EV and Energy Storage Battery Manufacturing Supply Chain

    Factorial Energy setting up EV Battery production in Massachusetts

    Tightening the Energy Storage Supply chain: Insights from Fluence

    Subscribe to our free, tri-weekly newsletter for more stories like these in the C&I Energy Transition

    The closing of the LG-Honda joint venture still awaits some regulatory approvals. They hope to begin construction next year and produce advance li-ion batteries by 2025.

    Fluence Energy, the battery storage joint venture of Siemens and AES which went public in the last year, recently confirmed it had made agreement with a contract manufacturer to produce the Cube module in Utah. Fluence expects to expand U.S. operations gradually.

    Factorial Energy, which is backed by EV makers such as Stellantis and Mercedes Benz, will establish an EV battery manufacturing plant in Massachusetts. The $45 million project could be operational sometime next year, according to Factorial.

    Ford’s Model e division, which also has supply deals with LG, is expanding its battery supply chain beyond nickel technologies and beyond previous mining agreements. One of those supply deals covering North America is with Vale Canada.

    -- -- -- 

    (Rod Walton, senior editor for EnergyTech, is a 14-year veteran of covering the energy industry both as a newspaper and trade journalist. He can be reached at [email protected]).

    Follow us on Twitter @EnergyTechNews_ and @rodwaltonelp and look us up on LinkedIn

    About the Author

    Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

    For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

    Email