Honda Motor electric vehicles due to be sold in the US will be made with over 50% of the same parts as General Motors’ cars, Japan’s Nikkei said.
The Japanese automaker plans to provide GM with information on an EV platform so the automakers will be building very similar EVs, the report claimed.
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Honda is currently developing its e:Architecture platform for mid-size EVs that are expected to reach North American showrooms by the late 2020s. GM will use the same platform and, in return, will share information on the development of its larger EVs, Nikkei said.
The companies will be selling small to large EVs that share over 50% of their components in terms of cost.
Only exterior and interior designs will differentiate the partners’ vehicles.
Nikkei said, in general, developing one EV model requires about JPY50bn (US$455m), with batteries alone accounting for about 40% to 50% of the production cost. Converting production lines to cater to EVs costs about JPY10bn to JPY15bn per factory.
By sharing EV platforms, Honda and GM will be able to standardise motors, batteries, inverters and other key components. This kind of collaboration will bring cost savings through the ordering of large quantities of the same parts.
