Honda Retools Ohio Factories for EV Production

• Honda is integrating its Marysville, Ohio, production facility with its other facilities in Ohio to make a so-called “EV Hub.”
  

• The Marysville facility was home to the team that built that latest iteration of the Acura NSX and produced the first US-built Accord when it went online in 1982.

• Honda says it will build the production version of its Performance EV Concept at this Marysville facility before the end of 2025.

Honda is sticking with its electric vehicle push and is turning Ohio into its home base for EV manufacturing. The company is updating its long-standing Marysville, Ohio, manufacturing facility to accommodate EV and hybrid production, in addition to its internal-combustion unit.

Joining this updated production facility is a series of similarly upgraded sites in Ohio to better handle battery-electric production under the banner of Honda’s EV Hub. Honda will use these facilities to build the production version of its Performance EV Concept before the end of 2025.

While the Marysville upgrades and the production-flagged concept car are the highlights of the hub, the backbone of this push take place throughout the supply chain.

The Anna, Ohio, engine plant is now home to the casting machines for the cases of its Intelligent Power Units, which is the home for the battery modules. These cases will then be shipped to Marysville and stuffed with battery modules from Honda’s joint venture with LG for its medium and large battery needs. Those completed battery packs will then get shipped off to the East Liberty, Ohio, production facility or stick around at Marysville.

In order to build those battery packs at its Marysville factory, Honda had to shake up the floor plan, sacrificing an in-house parts consolidation center and part of the plant’s old paint facility to accommodate.

Even though Honda is expanding its efforts in the EV space, the Marysville factor will also be tasked with assembling internal-combustion and hybrid vehicles. However, the first shiny new toy to make its way out of Marysville’s retooled facility will be a production version of the concept Acura showed during Monterey Car Week: this Honda Performance EV Concept.

While details are still light about this upcoming EV, Honda does say the production version of this Acura EV will also launch the brand’s battery-electric platform. And if recent history is any indication, the concept will make its way to production without a dramatic change in its general shape, likely getting gently nipped and tucked and have glass mirrors thrown on before moving to your local Acura showroom.

All in, Honda says that this investment in upgrading these Ohio facilities has set the company back $700 million. Add that to the $3.5 billion thrown at its joint-venture battery facility in Jefferson, Ohio, and Honda has invested over $4 billion in Ohio to turn it into a battery-electric manufacturing hub.

Do you think Honda is wise in making its Marysville facility flexible enough to build BEV, hybrid, and ICE vehicles? Or do you think that could cause hiccups during assembly? Tell us your thoughts below.