Honda and LG Energy Solution on Tuesday confirmed details of a joint-venture Ohio battery plant that will produce battery modules for North American-market Honda EVs beginning in 2025.

Announced in 2022, the joint-venture plant will be located in Fayette County, about 40 miles southwest of Columbus, and aims for 40 gigawatt-hours of annual production capacity, Honda confirmed in a press release.

Honda and LG Energy Solution will commit $4.4 billion to the joint venture, with $3.5 billion going to the plant itself. Construction is scheduled to start in 2023, with completion scheduled for 2024 in order to start mass producing pouch-type lithium-ion batteries by 2025, according to Honda.

2020 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid

That timeline aligns with Honda’s plan to begin producing and selling EVs in North America in 2026, based on its in-house e:Architecture. Honda already has a significant U.S. manufacturing footprint, as well as R&D facilities that could aid in future EV development. It also announced a companion $700 million investment to revamp several existing Ohio plants for EV production.

However, Honda’s first mass-market EV for the U.S. will be the Prologue SUV, based on General Motors Ultium tech. It’s scheduled to debut in 2024, and is expected to be built alongside the Chevrolet Blazer EV in Mexico. Honda’s Acura luxury brand will also get the Ultium-derived ZDX SUV in 2024, with production expected to take place at GM’s Spring Hill, Tennessee, factory alongside the Cadillac Lyriq.

2024 Honda Prologue

In 2027, Honda and GM plan to begin selling co-developed affordable EVs in North America. This is from both the Ultium-based Prologue/ZDX deal and Honda’s own e:Architecture.

While the announcement only mentions conventional lithium-ion battery chemistry, Honda is also researching solid-state batteries, although they likely won’t be ready for use in production EVs until later this decade, at the earliest.

These various efforts will contribute to Honda’s goal of eliminating all combustion engines from its global lineup by 2040, leaving both battery-electric and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.