On October 12, Honda and Mitsubishi teamed up to maximize the value of EVs and find new uses for outdated EV batteries. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding to develop two new business models that’ll mainly benefit Japanese EV owners.
The first model is an EV battery monitoring system called Battery Lifetime Management, which will install a battery-monitoring system in Honda’s planned mini-EVs when they launch in Japan next year. The primary goal of the software will be to optimize the value of the batteries that will be placed in the EVs that have not yet been constructed. This means that a high-voltage automobile battery that is no longer in good condition will no longer be discarded as garbage. Rather, it will be utilized for stationary energy storage and appropriately recycled when it comes.
The second business model focuses on the future Honda EVs’ smart charging and vehicle-to-grid capabilities. Lower electricity bills at the end of the month result from an Energy Management System, which automatically charges the car’s high-voltage battery when grid energy is most affordable and sends power back to the grid when it’s most convenient for the electric vehicle owner.
The automaker will launch its Prologue EV, the company’s first-ever all-electric SUV, in the U.S. market next year. Additionally, Honda plans to invest roughly $40 billion through 2030 in an effort to increase hybrid and full EV sales to 40% of total sales by the end of the decade.
Besides the Ultium-based Prologue and Acura ZDX, the Nippon marque is working on its own EV architecture that will act as a base for a 2026-bound vehicle in North America, as well as making its own batteries, some of which will be built at the company’s $3.5 billion joint venture with LG in Ohio starting in 2025.
