Honda Moving Ahead With Giant Ohio EV Hub, + New Electric Motorcycle Factory in India

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Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress initiated the biggest reshoring initiative in US history. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) stimulated billions upon billions of dollars of battery production factories and other cleantech production facilities in the US. It also encouraged EV production in the US via stipulations on consumer EV subsidies. One of the first EV production plans to be announced in association with this was a giant Honda battery factory and EV hub in Ohio. Luckily, this project is still going forward despite the administration change, concerns about what that will mean for Inflation Reduction Act funding and the US EV tax credit, and overall uncertainty in the US and with global trade.

Honda’s EV Manufacturing Hub in Ohio

The Honda factory is huge not just because of its size, but also because it’s going to serve as a kind of global center and example for the company, something that is highly atypical for Honda outside of Japan. That may be in part because of IRA policies, but it could also be because the US is so important for Honda.

Its factories in Ohio are receiving more than $1 billion in investment from Honda this year. This will include 6 “giga presses” as well as a new battery cell manufacturing system. The first EV produced by Honda, the Acura RSX, is expected to go into production in the state later this year. (If you’re confused, knowing that the company sells the Honda Prologue and the Acura ZDX, remember that GM produces those for Honda.) Then there will be the new Honda 0 EVs.

“The Honda EV hub in Ohio is establishing the global standard for EV production for people, for technology and for processes,” said Mike Fischer, the head of Honda battery-electric vehicle projects in North American. “As we expand EV production regionally and globally, this is the footprint and the characteristic performance that will be used.”

“The company’s emerging EV hub in Ohio, including a separate $3.5 billion battery plant, will be the flagship for Honda’s global manufacturing operations. That includes its Marysville Auto Plant being capable of producing traditional vehicles, hybrids and EVs on the same assembly line, officials said during a daylong tour of the operations,” CNBC reports.

Honda is a huge US automaker at this point, even if it is Japanese at heart. It produced more than one million cars here last year, and 36% were exported while Americans bought the other 64%.

Electric Motorcycles in India

While most of us think about cars when we think of Honda, the company also produces a lot of two-wheelers. In India, it plans to produce a lot of electric ones. It has plans to build a 100% electric motorcycle factory there, probably in the state of Karnataka.

India is the largest two-wheeler market in the world, and Honda wants to have the highest share of electric motorcycle sales there.

As part of a big summary briefing on its motorcycle business recently, Honda wrote:

Initiatives toward the popularization of electric motorcycles

1) Enhancement of the product lineup

Honda has been strategically proceeding with plans to introduce 30 electric models globally by 2030 to achieve the goal to increase its global annual sales of electric motorcycle models to 4 million units by 2030.

To this end, Honda positioned 2024 as the first year of electric globalization and made full-fledged entry into the market. In October 2024, Honda announced two global electric motorcycle models in Indonesia: the CUV e: powered by two units of Honda Mobile Power Pack e: swappable batteries; and the ICON e: powered by a fixed battery. The CUV e: is scheduled to go on sale in 20 countries including European countries and Japan.

In November, Honda announced two electric motorcycle models designed exclusively for India: ACTIVA e: powered by two units of Honda Mobile Power Pack e:, and the QC1 powered by a fixed battery. Of the 30 models targeted for introduction by 2030, Honda has already introduced 13 models, making steady progress with the plan.

At EICMA 2024, Honda unveiled two electric motorcycle concept models: the EV Fun Concept, the first Honda electric sports model; and the EV Urban Concept that embodies the Honda vision of urban mobility in the near future.

By offering a wide variety of electric models that accommodate the increasingly diverse customer needs, Honda will strive to become the leading company also in the electric motorcycle market.

2) Establishment and enhancement of charging and usage environment

For the popularization of electric motorcycles, Honda has not only been enhancing its product lineup but also implementing initiatives to improve the environment for the usage.

In addition to Japan, Indonesia and Thailand, Honda began offering a battery sharing service in India through its local subsidiary, Honda Power Pack Energy India Pvt. Ltd. (HEID), for the further popularization of electric motorcycle models powered by swappable batteries. Coinciding with the market launch of the ACTIVA e:, HEID will begin offering the Honda e:Swap, battery sharing service that enables battery swapping in three major Indian cities, namely Bengaluru, the National Capital Territory of Delhi, and Mumbai, which will eliminate the users’ anxiety of running out of battery power and need to wait for recharging and offer mobility experience with greater peace of mind.

Moreover, Honda will strengthen after-sales services and maintenance by leveraging the industry’s largest sales network^*1 consisting of 6,000 dealership locations throughout India. In addition, with the plan to continue introducing more electric models powered by a fixed battery, Honda will leverage its broad sales network to enhance the battery charging network, which will eliminate customer anxiety of running out of battery power.

Through these initiatives, Honda will also strive to capture the largest market share in the electric motorcycle market in India.

3) Reduction of the cost of ownership of electric motorcycles

Honda is also working to reduce the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), which will be one of the challenges associated with the introduction of electric motorcycles.

Honda is striving to sell its electric motorcycle models in the price range where the TOC for the three years of ownership will be equivalent to that of ICE models. To achieve this target, Honda will begin operating a dedicated electric motorcycle production plant in India in 2028. A wide variety of electric models will be produced by combining modules that are commonized for multiple models. Additionally, for batteries, the core component of electric models, Honda has been working with battery manufacturers to establish specifications suited to the characteristics of motorcycles and ensure stable procurement.

4) Reutilization and recirculation of batteries

Working toward the realization of carbon neutrality, Honda is conducting various initiatives from the perspective of resource circulation, including secondary use and recycling of batteries.

In India, in collaboration with OMC Power, which operates a distributed power supply and grid business, Honda has begun an initiative to utilize used Honda Mobile Power Pack e: as power feeders which will help people in areas with unstable power supply and off-grid areas in India, supplying power to local stores and schools.

Ultimately, Honda will work to build a recycling-oriented/circular value chain, which includes the recycling of precious metals and other materials.

Much goes under the radar with electric two-wheelers. They are stealthy like that I guess. Or maybe it’s just that we’re too US centric as some commenters claim. In any case, it’s good to see Honda having a strong focus on electrifying two-wheelers — of course, it knows it needs to do so in order to not fall behind.