GM and Honda team up to make “affordable” EVs to help more people go electric

General Motors has partnered with Japanese automaker Honda to co-develop a series of affordable EVs in a move the two companies hope will “put people all over the world into EVs faster than either company could achieve on its own.”

General Motors and Honda announced on Tuesday an expansion of their partnership which will see them co-develop a new affordable EVs based on a new architecture using GM’s Ultium battery technology. These will first include a compact crossover, which they hope will enable global production of millions of EVs starting in 2027.

The two companies have also committed to working to standardise equipment and processes so as to achieve greater quality, higher throughput, and affordability, as well as discussing future EV battery technology collaboration opportunities in an effort to further drive down the cost of electrification.

“GM and Honda will share our best technology, design and manufacturing strategies to deliver affordable and desirable EVs on a global scale, including our key markets in North America, South America, and China,” said Mary Barra, GM chair and CEO of the partnership.

“This is a key step to deliver on our commitment to achieve carbon neutrality in our global products and operations by 2040 and eliminate tailpipe emissions from light duty vehicles in the U.S. by 2035. By working together, we’ll put people all over the world into EVs faster than either company could achieve on its own.”

GM and Honda began working together in 2013 when they committed to jointly developing a next-generation fuel cell system and hydrogen storage technologies. Since then, the two companies have partnered on electric and autonomous vehicle technologies and in 2018 Honda joined GM’s EV battery module development efforts.

Similarly, in 2020, the two companies announced plans to co-develop two EVs including the Honda Prologue, which is set to be launched in early 2024, and will be followed by Honda performance subsidiary Acura’s first electric SUV.

The companies have also benefited from an ongoing relationship with Californian self-driving car specialist Cruise and are working together on the development of the Cruise Origin, one of the first purpose-built and fully autonomous vehicles designed specifically for driverless ride-hail and delivery.

Shinji Aoyama, Honda senior managing executive officer said the partnship will be a “win-win” for customers: “This new series of affordable EVs will build on this relationship by leveraging our strength in the development and production of high quality, compact class vehicles.”

Toshihiro Mibe, Honda president and CEO added that, “Honda is committed to reaching our goal of carbon neutrality on a global basis by 2050, which requires driving down the cost of electric vehicles to make EV ownership possible for the greatest number of customers.”