Honda closes partnership with global giant General Motors and expects to arrive in 2030 producing 2 million electric cars per year, twice as much as Tesla, leader in the segment

After North American, European or Asian automakers announced their electrification plans, it is time for Honda, another global giant, to present its e-mobility strategy that plans to spend 8 trillion yen (US$ 64 billion). Today, the Japanese automaker more than doubled the target: there will be 30 electric models by 2030. The targets were set out in a company presentation on April 12.

Watch the video below and check out the ambitious plans that the Japanese company has in the vehicle electrification market

Most of the 8 trillion yen investment is earmarked for electrification and software technologies. This includes about 43 billion yen on a demonstration line for solid-state battery production, expected to start in 2024.

With that, Honda expects to arrive in 2030 producing 2 million electric cars per year, twice as much as Tesla, segment leader, produces today. For comparison, Toyota intends to produce 3,5 million vehicles of the type per year in 2030, and Nissan wants that, by that year, half of all its production will already be electric.

Like Toyota or VW, Honda is planning a leap in battery technologies

It will not be an easy transition for the maker of one of the most powerful and reliable internal combustion engines on the market, which, to realize its ambitious plans, recently entered into an EV partnership with GM on its Ultium platform, which will result in the first electric Acura. It also aims to develop that unicorn category of sub-$30.000 electric cars that Tesla has put on the back burner as it has its hands full with an as-yet-unreleased Cybertruck or Roadster 2 model.

In respect of the partnership with the global giant GM, like Toyota or VW, Honda is planning to leapfrog current battery technologies, and told the market that it wanted to establish a production line dedicated to electric vehicles in North America, where will also purchase Ultium batteries from General Motors Co. The Japanese brand is also considering a separate joint venture for battery production there, in addition to its partnership with General Motors.

That's a pretty ambitious goal, as the biggest EV battery maker CATL is pretty skeptical of any timeline for mass production of solid-state batteries that falls before 2030. This is the year that most legacy automakers fixed as the turning point for the full electrification of its rosters, and Honda is no longer the last one held back here, aiming to have 30 EV models by then, with two million units in annual production volume.

“This puts them in good company with many other manufacturers that have made big battery announcements […] ultimately, the world will leave internal combustion engines behind,” said Christopher Richter, an analyst at CLSA.

Honda says it does not intend to give up hybrid cars, which unite combustion engines with electric batteries

Honda even intends to have an electric car factory in North America, where it will also produce Ultium batteries, which were developed by General Motors and are now being licensed to other automakers. 

The partnership with General Motors also includes the development of electric cars, as announced above. A second partnership was established with Sony for the same purpose. A battery factory is also in the plans, regardless of the initiative with GM.

Despite the announcement, Honda says it does not intend to give up hybrid cars, which unite combustion engines with electric batteries. “By no means is this the end of hybrids or we are replacing hybrids with EVs,” said the CEO Toshihiro Mibe during the ad. “We're going to improve our current hybrids and use them as a weapon in our business,” he declared.