Sep. 11—Honda in Ohio is undergoing what one executive calls a "second founding."
Honda is moving toward its year 2040 goal of producing 100% zero-emissions vehicles, with battery electric vehicles (EVs) and fuel cell (hydrogen) vehicles.
Until then, Mike Fischer, executive chief engineer and Honda EV Hub lead, said Honda is ready to give customers what they want. That means producing internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, hybrid vehicles that employ both EV and ICE technologies, and EVs at Honda's Marysville and East Liberty plants during a long transition period.
"Our DNA is founded on flexibility," Fischer told the Dayton Daily News in a new interview.
The transformation has been massive, in terms of capital investments and employee re-training.
The automaker will have six 6,000-ton casting machines in its Anna plant, to "mega-cast" IPU ("Intelligent Power Unit") cases, the cases holding battery modules from Honda's joint venture battery plant in Jeffersonville with LG Energy — a new plant that is closer to Dayton and Springfield than any of Honda's other production sites.
"It's our first application of this mega-casting ... It's also for us to gain know-how as we translate to future mega-casting applications for future development and deployment," Fischer said.
Die-casting shapes molten metal into intricate mechanical parts.
"Mega-casting" represents a new capability for Honda globally, the company said.
IPU cases will be cast, machined and joined at the Anna engine plant and sent to Honda's Marysville auto assembly plant. From the Jeffersonville plant in Fayette County, the battery modules will also be sent to Marysville, where they will be sub-assembled into the IPU assembly — the power source for the vehicle.
Those assemblies will then go to Marysville and East Liberty production lines for consumption into EV vehicles.
"Ultimately, at the end of the day, this is not just about tooling investment, equipment, reinvestment — what we're investing in are people," Fischer said.
Honda is nearly a year away from EV production in Ohio, and the automaker has been showing off a vehicle whose battery will be made in Jeffersonville.
Honda said a model based on the Acura Performance EV Concept — which made its global debut during the 2024 Monterey Car Week last month — will become the first EV made in Marysville in late 2025.
That vehicle's battery will be made in Jeffersonville, about a 50-minute drive southeast of Dayton and roughly 40 minutes from Springfield.