Honda to Build EV Battery Components in Ontario

Port Colborne, Ontario, will be the location of a plant that makes separators for automotive lithium-ion batteries, Honda announced today following the announcement that it has signed a shareholder agreement with Asahi Kasei. Together, the companies will form a joint venture dubbed the Asahi Kasei Honda Battery Separator Corporation, which is set to start production in 2027.

Separators are a crucial part of battery design and do exactly what the name suggests: they keep the anode and the cathode (the battery’s negative and positive poles) apart to prevent a short circuit while also allowing ionic charge carriers to pass from one end to the other. Honda says that its investment in this joint venture company will be an important part of its mission to produce high-performance electrified vehicles, and will likely support production at the joint venture battery production facility it's building in Jeffersonville, Ohio.

Like all automakers, Honda is accelerating the electrification of its vehicles and has been steadily adding hybrid powertrain options to more vehicles across its lineup. In addition, it has unveiled the Honda 0 Series concept vehicles, which are based on an in-house platform and will end its dependence on General Motors’ Ultium platform for electric vehicles (which is currently the basis of the Prologue and the Acura ZDX). The automaker promises that the EV platform it develops for the 0 Series vehicles will be particularly thin and light, allowing for more space in its vehicles, a lower ride height for better aerodynamics and improved range, as well as superior handling dynamics.

To that end, Honda is investing $417 million in the Asahi Kasei Honda Battery Separator Corporation, and Honda Canada will take a 25 per cent stake in the company. The joint venture has also previously received financial support from the governments of Canada and Ontario.

Honda “is building a comprehensive electric vehicle value chain in Canada,” said Ryu Taniguchi, president of Asahi Kasei Battery Separator Corp. “Our partnership will not only establish stable supply of separators in North America, together we will enhance battery performance and durability to advance the energy transition through electric vehicles, making an important contribution to sustainability."