May 4, 2023: Japan’s government is backing plans by GS Yuasa and Honda Motor to invest ¥444 billion ($3.3 billion) in a lithium ion battery manufacturing plant for EVs and residential energy storage systems, the firms confirmed on April 28.
In addition, the government has pledged to contribute a maximum of ¥160 billion for the project by Blue Energy — the joint venture company formed by the partners in 2009, in which Yuasa has a majority 51% stake.
Yuasa and Honda said in January that they wanted to collaborate on developing a high-capacity, high-output lithium-ion battery.
Now the partners expect their Japan commercial battery production line to start up in April 2027 and achieve the targeted 20GWh annual capacity in October of that year.
Yuasa president and CEO Osamu Murao said the company will “make full use of all the government support we receive and strengthen the domestic (battery) manufacturing base for in-vehicle and stationary use with Honda”.
Yuasa said on February 1 that it had been selected to provide a lead-based 1.5MWh battery energy storage system for a large US mid-western electric utility company.