Honda Takes a New Approach to Build EVs

The Honda EV Hub combines final assembly with a retooled engine plant and a partnership with LG Chem to create a campus to build future ICE, Hybrid, and EV models.

It’s called the Honda EV Hub. A campus, of sorts, which includes a final assembly plant in Marysville Ohio, another in East Liberty Ohio, and the Anna Engine Plant. The Hub will build future battery electric vehicles from Honda. But the same campus will also continue to build internal combustion engine and hybrid vehicles, all on the same assembly line.

I speak with executive chief engineer, Mike Fischer, about the New Honda EV Hub and what it means for Honda’s future.

“Our efforts in establishing the Honda EV Hub in Ohio are not focused simply on EV production but on fundamentally reimagining our approach to manufacturing,” said Mike Fischer, executive chief engineer and Honda EV Hub lead. “Our EV Hub in Ohio is creating an approach to EV production that will serve as the foundation for Honda operations throughout North America and globally.”

The first vehicle assembled at the Hub will be the production version of the Performance EV Concept. It’s the same vehicle that Acura hauled to a studio in Metro Detroit and allowed me to take a close look and shoot a video.

Take a close look at the Acura Performance EV Concept here.

The production version of the Performance EV Concept also marks the first vehicle built from a new, all-Honda EV platform, no GM-partnership involved here. Honda’s first wholly owned EV will be an Acura.

But the Hub offers flexibility to also build ICE and hybrid vehicles, all on the same line. It marks a new kind of plant flexibility in today’s automotive world.

New Partnership

Part of that flexibility comes in the form of a new partnership with LG Chem, called L-H Battery Inc. This company will build the Intelligent Power Unit, or IPU, which essentially combines electric motors with the battery pack. Marysville will build the sub-assembly, the Anna Engine Plant will create the IPU case.

Expect to see the first production version of the Performance EV Concept to roll off the assembly line in late 2025. Honda spent $700 million dollars to retool the facilities for this and already committed to spend $3.5 billion on the partnership with LG. This is not cheap.

But the flexibility to continue to build ICE and hybrid vehicles alongside new EVs could prove an extremely cost effective move. Time will tell.

Learn more about the Acura Performance EV Concept here