Japanese Honda and Korean LG recently announced their partnership to jointly build a new EV (Electric Vehicle) battery plant in the United States for US$4.4 billion, the Economic Daily News reported on August 30. The new plant is projected to break ground in early 2023 and start mass production by the end of 2025. To achieve this goal, both parties will set up a joint venture this year, in which Honda is reportedly to invest US$1.7 billion to acquire 49% stake while 51% will be held by LG. The new factory will provide EV batteries for Honda and its EV brand Acura sold in the North American market, with an aim to have an annual production capacity of around 40 GWh. In addition to this new factory, Honda has already had four assembly plants in the United States.
According to MIC (Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute), sales of global EVs are forecasted to increase significantly from 11 million units in 2020 to between 145 million and 230 million units in 2030 and grow at 30% CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) in 2020-2030. It is anticipated that the United States, as the world's second largest EV market next to China, will sell about 1.3 million EVs and register an over 100% year-on-year growth in 2022. Established in 1987, MIC is a division of III (Institute for Information Industry), a major government think tank, and one of the leading IT research institutes in Taiwan.