- Japan’s Honda Motor pledged to double its electrification and software investment to about $65 billion.
- Japan is the second-biggest automaker after Toyota Motor unveiled the battery-powered “Honda 0 Series” in January.
Japan’s Honda Motor pledged to double its electrification and software investment to about $65 billion over the 10 years running through the 2030 business year, it said.
Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe stated that the automaker planned to spend 10 trillion yen ($64.88 billion) on electrification and software over the period, doubling the amount it pledged in April 2022.
Mibe said the company, a relative latecomer to electric vehicles, first had to ensure it could reliably procure batteries and achieve cost cuts and performance improvements before focusing on software-defined vehicles.
“As for strengthening software development, we realised the amount we had settled on two years ago was simply not enough, so we significantly increased that portion,” Mibe said after a presentation that focused mostly on hardware improvements.
Models of a battery-powered vehicle series Honda will start rolling out from 2026 will have a cruising range of 300 miles (482 km) or more, Mibe said, pledging to equip the cars with an ultra-thin battery pack and a newly-developed compact e-axle.
The automaker said it aimed to cut battery procurement costs in North America by more than 20 per cent by 2030 and reduce production expenses by about 35 per cent, partly by boosting parts integration.
Japan is the second-biggest automaker after Toyota Motor, which originally unveiled the battery-powered “Honda 0 Series” in January. It is bracing for a long-term push to catch up with global rivals in transitioning to EVs.
Likewise, Honda faces growing competition from established global brands that have rolled out EVs at a swifter pace, and players such as Tesla and a raft of Chinese automakers, including BYD.