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Daily Newsletter

13 October 2023

Daily Newsletter

Honda and Mitsubishi to collaborate on end life batteries

Eyeing opportunities to use batteries as an energy source at the end of their EV lifecycle

Honda Motor and Japanese trading house Mitsubishi Corporation will join forces to explore new business opportunities in the electric vehicle (EV) battery segment, according to local reports.

The news came shortly after Toyota announced an alliance with Japanese energy group Idemitsu Kosan to develop solid state batteries for EVs.

Honda and Mitsubishi are eyeing opportunities to use batteries as an energy source at the end of their EV lifecycle and also opportunities in smart charging which optimises energy storage by recharging during low grid demand times. Households stand to benefit by consuming more, cheaper off peak energy.

Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe said in a statement “We will not only sell EVs but take a proactive approach to energy management where EV batteries will be used as an energy source."

The two companies have agreed to set up an operation to monitor the use of batteries in a forthcoming Honda mini-EV model with a view to transferring their use to stationary energy storage systems (ESS).

High upfront costs could be detrimental towards the growth of the off-highway EV market

The global off-highway electric market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17.4% by 2030, per GlobalData. Despite the strong growth, high upfront costs may pose a challenge. Due to the high capacity of these vehicles, they consume large amounts of power from a number of battery packs installed on the vehicle, whose high cost in turn adds to the cost of the vehicle, thereby increasing the initial cost. However, governments worldwide are offering subsidies and tax exemptions in order to help customers to counter the initial purchase cost.