Honda, Japan's second-largest automaker, held a press conference on Tuesday morning local time to disclose the progress of its electrification transformation.
The background that needs to be explained is that at the inauguration conference of Honda's three global CEO units (Toshihiro Mibe) in April last year, it publicly shouted the vision of "full electrification" and planned to completely stop the sale of gasoline vehicles with internal combustion engines by 2040. So today's press conference is also a year later, Honda management on the relevant vision of the update and thinking.
Clearly outline the implementation route of electrification
Compared with last year's "six-year 5 trillion" R & D investment and new model launch plan, this year's blueprint has many more time nodes and goals for investors to keep in mind on the calendar.
Overall, Honda plans to spend 8 trillion yen (406.1 billion yuan) on research and development over the next decade, of which 5 trillion yen will be devoted to software and technologies that drive electrification transformation. The macro goal is to launch 30 electric vehicles by 2030 and increase the annual production of electric vehicles to 2 million.
Honda also gave a more detailed account of how to achieve the goal of transforming electric cars this year.
With regard to the battery strategy that every car factory is paying close attention to, in addition to GM's Ultium platform, which has been officially purchased, Honda is also exploring the possibility of a joint venture to build a US battery plant. In addition, in the Chinese region, the company will also further deepen its cooperation with Ningde era. In Japan, Honda will also purchase batteries from Automotive Energy supply (AESC) for mini electric cars.
Of course, Honda, which is well aware of the "choke" of the battery, also has plans to develop and produce its own batteries. The company confirmed on Tuesday that it will invest 43 billion yen to build a demonstration production line for all-solid-state batteries under development, with the goal of being operational in the spring of 2024.
The technology, also known as the "next generation" battery, will be used in models that will be available after 2025. In the long run, Honda will officially adopt its own e: Architecture electric vehicle software and hardware platform in 2026.
Honda also revealed on Tuesday that it was planning to build specialized electric car plants in Guangzhou and Wuhan in China, as well as plans to build electric vehicle production lines in North America.
In terms of model launch planning, Honda will also put products on the shelves according to different market preferences. For example, the company will launch two medium to large SUV; models jointly developed with General Motors in 2024, while 10 new models will be put on the shelves in the next five years, two of which will be put on the market this year; and the Japanese market plans to launch commercial mini electric cars with a price of "1 million yen" in 2024, followed by personal mini electric cars and SUV.
