Dive Brief:
- Battery maker LG Energy Solution has agreed to sell its stake of its electric vehicle joint venture battery plant building in Ohio to Honda Development and Manufacturing of America for $2.85 billion, according to a Dec. 23 regulatory filing.
- The plans for the joint venture EV battery plant were announced in August 2022 and included an initial investment commitment of $3.5 billion by Honda and LG Energy Solution to produce lithium-ion batteries for electric Honda and Acura models for the North American market beginning in 2026.
- The transaction includes the building and infrastructure assets related to the joint venture, but excludes the land and equipment. The joint venture will continue to use the facility under a lease agreement, with no changes to production or operational plans, according to the Korea Herald. The deal is scheduled to close on Feb. 28.
Dive Insight:
The L-H Battery Co. joint venture between LG Energy Solution and Honda was formally established in January 2023 to produce battery cells in the U.S. for future Honda and Acura EVs.
Although the two companies planned an initial investment commitment of $3.5 billion in the Ohio plant, the total investment was expected to reach up to $4.4 billion, with a targeted annual capacity of 40GWh of battery cells.
According to LG Energy Solution’s regulatory filing, the deal to divest its stake in the battery plant building is intended to “increase the operational efficiency” of its joint venture with Honda. However, the plant may expand production of batteries for energy storage system applications, according to the Korea Herald.
In October 2024, LG Energy Solution announced it will focus more on producing energy storage system batteries as part of its mid-to-long-term business strategy, which are in high demand due to the AI data center construction boom in the U.S. But the company said its long-term plans to develop advanced batteries for the auto industry will remain a priority.
Honda announced plans to establish an “EV Hub” in Ohio in March 2023, which included the construction of the joint venture battery plant with LG Energy Solution. But with changing market conditions, Honda and other automakers, including General Motors and Ford Motor Co., have revised their EV timelines and no longer require the battery capacity previously anticipated.
In October, GM announced it was cutting thousands of jobs at its U.S. EV factories and battery plants amid slowing demand. The plans include the laying off 550 workers at its Ultium Cells EV battery joint venture plant in Ohio and pausing production at a second Ultium Cells production site in Tennessee.
Last month, Ford Motor Co. and battery maker SK On reached an agreement to dissolve their EV battery joint venture “BlueOval SK.” The JV was established in September 2021 as part of a planned $11.4 billion investment by the two companies to build three large-scale manufacturing plants in the U.S. to produce batteries for Ford’s future EVs.
Also last month, Ford terminated its multi-billion-dollar supply deal with LG Energy Solution for 75 GWh of battery cells due to weakening EV demand.
Although Honda will acquire LG Energy Solution’s multi-billion-dollar stake in the Ohio battery plant, the automaker has renewed its focus on launching new hybrid models as it pursues its more long-term electrification goals.
In a May 2025 press briefing, Honda’s Global CEO Toshihiro Mibe announced that the automaker was reducing its EV investments by $20.7 billion through 2030 to launch new hybrid models. The automaker is targeting global sales of over 3.6 million vehicles by 2030, 2.2 million of which are expected to be hybrid models.
