Honda’s Ohio EV hub and what it means for parts suppliers in the north
Honda is retooling its central Ohio plants for electric vehicles and building a battery plant with LG. Suppliers across the state are adjusting.
Honda has built cars in Ohio since 1982, when its Marysville plant became the first Japanese auto factory in the United States. Over the past few years the company has been converting its Ohio operations into what it calls an EV hub, a shift that is reaching suppliers well beyond central Ohio.
What Honda is building
Honda announced in 2022 that it would retool its Marysville, East Liberty and Anna plants to build electric vehicles and parts, and it formed a joint venture with LG Energy Solution to build a battery plant near Jeffersonville in Fayette County. The company said its new Honda 0 Series of electric vehicles would be built at Marysville. Honda posts its Ohio announcements on its news site.
Honda has also said its Ohio plants will be able to build gasoline, hybrid and electric vehicles on the same lines, giving it flexibility as demand for EVs has grown more slowly than many automakers expected.
Suppliers in the region
Honda’s Ohio plants draw parts from hundreds of suppliers, many of them small and mid-sized manufacturers in towns across the state. Plants in Sandusky, Seneca, Huron and Wood counties make stampings, plastic parts, wiring and other components for Honda and for Stellantis’s Jeep plant in Toledo. When automakers change models, those suppliers have to retool too.
Electric vehicles use fewer engine and transmission parts, so suppliers that specialize in those components face pressure to change. Others see new business in battery enclosures, thermal systems and electronics.
Workforce
State and community colleges have expanded training for advanced manufacturing and electrical work in response. The state’s workforce programs, championed by Sen. Jon Husted when he was lieutenant governor, have pushed credentials that local manufacturers want.
For Bellevue-area workers, the region’s two biggest manufacturing employers remain the Whirlpool plant in Clyde and the rail yard, but auto suppliers fill out the job market. More in Business.