The joint venture will produce battery separators by combining Asahi Kasei’s expertise in material technology with Honda’s electrification knowledge.
Honda is investing $417 million and taking a 25 per cent stake in a new joint venture with Asahi Kasei. Photo: Asahi Kasei
The battery separator joint venture with Asahi Kasei is the third piece of Honda’s four-part EV manufacturing ecosystem strategy
Honda and Asahi Kasei Corp have signed a shareholders agreement to turn E-Materials Canada Corporation, an existing Asahi Kasei subsidiary, into a renamed joint venture: Asahi Kasei Honda Battery Separator Corporation.
Honda is making a $417 million investment in the joint venture in exchange for a 25 per cent stake. Asahi Kasei will retain 75 per cent of the company.
The joint venture will be fully permitted and approved by early 2025.
Building a value chain
The Asahi Kasei Honda Battery Separator Corporation is the result of ongoing discussions between the two companies since April 2024.
Japan-based Asahi Kasei first revealed plans to build a lithium-ion EV battery separator plant on April 25 under its existing E-Materials Canada Corporation.
On the same day, Honda said it will be building out a $15 billion comprehensive EV value chain in Canada.
At the time both companies expressed their intent to form a joint venture to establish the separator plant but did not confirm details. (Honda also announced a basic agreement with Posco Future M Co., Ltd. to produce cathode active materials, with a goal to announce a formal joint venture before the end of the year.)
Then, in May, Asahi Kasei announced it was investing $1.6 billion to build the separator plant in Port Colborne, Ont. (still, at that time, under the E-Materials banner).
Six month later, Asahi Kasei Honda Battery Separator Corporation was formed.
The separator plant
The Asahi Kasei Honda Battery Separator Corporation plant will manufacture proprietary “Hipore” battery separators. These sepatarors are an essential component of lithium-ion EV batteries.
“Our partnership will not only establish a stable supply of separators in North America, together we will enhance battery performance and durability to advance the energy transition through electric vehicles, ” says Ryu Taniguchi, president and representative director at Asahi Kasei Battery Separator Corp, in a press statement.
Commercial production at the Port Colborne separator plant is slated to begin by 2027. The plant has an expected annual capacity of 700 million square meters of Hipore coated film separators.
