LG's headquarters in Seoul / Yonhap

By Kim Hyun-bin

LG Energy Solutions (LGES) is seeking to establish a joint battery plant in the United States with Honda Motor, the world's 8th-largest automaker. It is an unprecedented move for a Japanese automaker to choose a Korean battery company over its own local parts manufacturer.

According to the battery industry, LGES is said to be discussing the establishment of a joint venture (JV) for electric vehicle (EV) batteries with Honda. As it is in the early stages of discussions, the timing of the creation of the corporation, the share ratio and the site of the plant have not been confirmed. However, it is said that they are considering the construction of a plant with a capacity of up to 40 gigawatt hours (40 GWh) in the U.S.

A plant of this scale is capable of producing 600,000 high-performance EVs per year, worth 4 trillion won.

"We are promoting a joint venture with GM, Hyundai Motors and Stellantis, and we plan to announce a plan to establish a joint corporation with other original equipment manufacturer (OEM) companies soon," LGES Vice Chairman Kwon Young-soo said at a press conference held Monday.

Honda's partnership with LGES is seen to be targeting the US market. Last year, Honda became the first among major Japanese car makers to announce plans to transition all models to EVs by 2040. Honda seems to have selected LGES as a partner as Japanese battery companies are experiencing difficulties.

Honda already has an indirect partnership with LGES, as a consequence of deciding to produce EVs in the U.S. through Ultium, General Motors' all-new EV modular platform and battery system, through which LGES supplies the batteries via a JV inked with GM. The industry believes that discussions on the new JV between Honda and LGES also started out of this relationship.

"We are discussing various ways of cooperating with global automobile manufacturers, but nothing has been confirmed," an LGES official said.