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‘Global standard’: With its Ohio EV Hub makeover, Honda sets course to its electric future
Posted by Talbot Payne on February 4, 2025
Marysville, Ohio — Global Japanese auto manufacturer Honda Motor Co. is going all-electric, and this sprawling plant in rural Ohio farm country is at the center of it.
Honda has begun work on its EV Hub — the ambitious transformation of its Ohio manufacturing facilities to produce electric vehicles this fall. Honda offered a peek behind the curtain of an operation at the core of Honda’s “Second Founding,” transforming a brand synonymous with some of the world’s best production and racing internal combustion engines into an all-EV maker.
The manufacturing north star in the Japanese company’s goal to be all-electric by 2040, the EV Hub brings battery components from satellite operations in the Midwest for assembly in Marysville for its first, in-house-built electric vehicles: the Acura RSX this fall followed by 0 Series SUV and Saloon EVs in 2026. The Marysville line, which has produced ICE cars for 40 years and is Honda’s longest-running manufacturing facility, will become a state-of-the-art, flexible line capable of spitting out EVs, ICEs and battery-electric hybrids depending on market demand.
“(The EV Hub) will establish a global standard for EV production.,” said EV Hub Executive Chief Engineer Mike Fischer, 57, a 33-year Honda veteran. “We will be meeting the needs of all our customers. We will produce EVs while navigating fluctuating market conditions and generating revenue for our future operations.”
In addition to introducing new technologies and traditional manufacturing efficiencies, the EV Hub launch is marbled with moral purpose addressing climate change, a politically charged issue that made the auto industry a focus of the November election. Honda says its electrification will benefit society and its goals are littered with green buzzwords like “carbon neutrality” and “sustainability.” Its “Triple Action to Zero” mantra echoes General Motors Co.’s’ “Zero Zero Zero” slogan, including zero CO2 emissions with Honda promising its vehicles will be produced with 1) clean energy, 2) carbon neutrality and 3) resource re-allocation with the goal of 100% recycling of vehicle materials.
“This transformation is not just about EV production for us,” said Fischer. “We use this as an opportunity to completely reimagine our approach to manufacturing. With the Second Founding launch of our (electric) 0 Series models … we are truly going back to zero. We are transforming to a more human-friendly, environmentally responsible production.”
In contrast to competitor Detroit Three EV plants, the EV Hub’s more than $5 billion investment took shape years ago and will be built without federal Inflation Reduction Act subsidies and with a nonunion workforce. Its vehicles will be exported globally as part of the Second Founding, which aims for a zero carbon-dioxide emissions footprint by 2050.
Like all domestic-based automakers, however, Honda will be impacted by a new Washington administration’s likely reduction in consumer-focused EV subsidies.
“Unlike Toyota, which has waited to gauge market reaction to EVs, Honda has committed to an EV future,” said iSeeCars auto analyst Karl Brauer. “They are going to pay a premium if EV demand does not materialize, but not as much if they had made a full-EV commitment like some other brands. It’s better to be flexible as they are doing — especially given softening EV demand and the post-November election environment.”
Bob Schwyn, vice president for Honda Development & Manufacturing of America, began his 37-year Honda career in the Marysville plant’s paint shop. He marveled at its second, Accord assembly line being ripped out to accommodate flexible powertrain manufacturing —– including the assembly of battery packs on the plant’s floor.
Multiple battery pack assembly stations will intercept cases from Honda’s Anna Engine Plant and battery cells from partner LG Energy Solution in Jeffersonville, Ohio. The practice is a departure from ICE powertrain assembly in Anna, Ohio, north of Dayton, where assembled engines are shipped by truck to Marysville (and sister plant East Liberty nearby) for installation into Accord and Acura TLX and Acura Integra sedans.
Those vehicles will continue to be made on the new Marysville line in sequence with the Honda 0 Series products and sister Acura EV. Prototypes for the 0 Series vehicles, introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, are dramatic departures from current Honda style with signature squared-off rear ends, sporty fascias, big-screen interiors and sci-fi electronics, including Level 3 hands-free driving capability.
Indeed, the flagship 0 Series sedan based on the Honda 0 Saloon Concept looks like a four-door Lamborghini with a low snout and long, coupe-like roof. The exotic Saloon’s production doppelganger is hiding in plain sight as the Sony Afeela 1, which Honda will also build on the Marysville line. Electronics maker Sony says the high-tech Afeela, its first vehicle, will start at $89,900.
The Afeela 1 electric hatchback looks very similar to Honda’s Saloon EV. It will start at $89,900 when it goes on sale. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
It’s not the first time Honda has manufactured electric powertrain components. Marysville has provided the small battery modules for the Accord and CR-V SUV Hybrids (CR-V is assembled in East Liberty), but the fully-electric modules for the 0 Series EVs are a different animal.
Much broader and substantially heavier than internal-combustion engines, the large battery packs would be a logistical challenge to transport by truck from Anna. So Anna’s enormous, 6,500-ton stamping machines will stamp aluminum battery pack cases — then send them to Marysville to be stuffed with battery cells.
“I’ve worked on manufacturing projects throughout my career,” said associate chief engineer Tim Leopold, 45, who has been with Honda for 23 years. “This is the most challenging. For the Second Founding of Honda, we had to re-establish the Marysville plant. What does that mean? We had to reimagine (and) retool our lines and our associates and partners in order to lead us into the future. Marysville being the first to launch an EV product, we were charged … with taking on new manufacturing technologies.”
Once assembled, the battery modules will be inserted into the EV chassis from below by caged robots on the Marysville line. The consolidation of Accord, Acura and 0 Series lines has also opened aisle space for less cramped, more efficient working conditions.
A Saloon EV could be followed by more EVs, a gas-electric, hybrid Accord or gas-powered Integra, depending on consumer demand.
“As a nonunion plant, Honda should have more flexibility to implement its flexible line,” said analyst Brauer. “It should make it easier to pivot between powertrains depending on consumer demand.”
Honda has also made EVs in Japan but with limited success. Small electric utility vans are made there, as was the electric Honda e subcompact. The latter went out of production last year after disappointing sales in Europe and Japan.
Jay Joseph, vice president of sustainability and business development, said Honda gained learning from the small, pricey Honda e on range and affordability. To that end, the 0 Series models are larger, more premium vehicles for the U.S. market, where EV buyers come from upper-income demographics. Honda’s first EV, for example — the $50K Prologue SUV made in Mexico under a joint agreement with General Motors — is the biggest, most expensive vehicle that Honda makes and ended 2024 as the fifth best-selling EV in the U.S.
Expect the upscale 0 Series models to follow in its footstep in price and size. Though Honda has resisted manufacturing subsidies, it is an advocate for the $7,500 customer incentive to buy full EVs — subsidies frowned on by the new Trump administration.
“A significant change in policy makes it difficult for us to invest in EVs,” said Lance Woefler, Honda North America vice president of sales, at CES when asked about whether Honda would miss what was approved under the previous, Democratic administration.
Regardless, Honda says the ship has sailed on its decision to go all-electric.
“Electrification is the best thing for our customers in the long run,” Woelfer said. “We are on a path to an electric and digital future based on what our customers want. We can’t force our customers to buy EVs.”
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.