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Honda plans to end production of the Honda e EV by January 2024. This is the company’s first mass-produced EV, but sales have been sluggish, falling short of the annual domestic sales target of 1,000 units. Going forward, the company will focus on commercial light EVs, which will be launched in the spring of 2024, to increase the electrification rate of the vehicles it sells.
The Honda e was launched in 2020. The vehicle is priced at 4.95 million yen and has a range of 259 km (WLTC mode). Sales in Europe have already been discontinued. Sales in Japan will also be discontinued once stocks run out.
The Honda e was not originally intended to be a high-volume model, but it did not meet its sales target. The company plans to expand the model lineup, starting with the N-VAN e:, a light electric vehicle to be launched next year.
South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Company and Apple Inc. plan to set up a partnership in the field of self-driving electric cars, according to Korea IT News. And recently another media outlet reported that Hyundai Motor and Apple plan to launch a self-driving EV in 2027.
In response to this news, Hyundai Motor announced that it was in early-stage talks with Apple. On Dec. 10, Hyundai Motor declined to comment on the Korea IT News report, reiterating its statement from Dec. 8 that it had received inquiries from various companies interested in collaborating on the development of self-driving EVs. Apple was not available for comment at the time of our publication.
Kubota Corporation and Sumitomo Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. said they have begun discussions regarding the mutual supply of construction equipment.
Internationally, the growing demand for housing and the expected increase in construction work related to infrastructure investment and urban development, plus the increasing shortage of construction labor, are expected to create strong demand for construction equipment to improve efficiency and reduce labor requirements.
Kubota develops, manufactures, and sells small construction equipment used in urban construction, while Sumitomo Construction Machinery specializes in medium and large construction equipment used in a wide range of civil engineering and forestry work.
Hyundai Motor Company has started to develop the EV market in the Middle East. The strategy is to get a head start in the market by making large investments. In response to the global movement to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, interest in the EV market is high in the oil-producing countries of the Middle East.
On Oct. 22, 2023, Hyundai Motor Company, which is expanding its business into environmentally friendly hydrogen energy in addition to local vehicle production, signed a joint investment agreement with the Saudi National Fund to establish a semi-finished product assembly plant. The joint venture plant will be built in King Abdullah Economic City and will have an annual production capacity of 50,000 units.
Chinese automotive equipment manufacturer Suzhou Harmontronics Automation Technology plans to build an electric motorcycle factory in Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), eyeing a market set to grow, thanks to government subsidies.
The company plans to invest $281 million (10 billion baht) to secure annual production capacity of 150,000 units by 2028. The plans were revealed by the office of the EEC.
Suzhou Harmontronics will build the factory at an industrial park in Chonburi Province, within the EEC zone, and will assemble electric motorcycles and manufacturing replaceable batteries and charging equipment at the facility. A start date for operations was not disclosed.
Malaysian state-owned carmaker Proton is considering building an EV plant in Thailand, according to reports from Thailand government officials. The Thai government has long focused on promoting related industries.
At a joint press conference with the Prime Minister of Malaysia, where he is visiting, the Thai Prime Minister said, “I hope we can confirm clear steps to invite the plant and proceed quickly,” and indicated that he plans to work out the details with the parties involved soon. The amount of investment and production capacity were not disclosed.
Proton was established in 1983 as a national policy to revive Malaysia’s automotive industry. Currently, the company is rushing to switch to EVs after receiving an investment from Geely, a private Chinese automotive giant.
Komatsu says it will launch the PC05E-1 electric micro excavator, jointly developed with Honda, in the Japanese market in October. In the domestic construction equipment market, where the electrification market has not yet been developed, Komatsu plans to quickly create a market to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 by introducing a variety of models.
The machine is an expanded version of the PC01E-1 electric micro excavator, which was introduced to the domestic market in March 2022. The current “PC05-1” micro excavator, which is widely used for small civil engineering and construction work as well as gas, electric and plumbing sites, has been electrified by installing the Honda Mobile Power Pack e: or electric power unit (eGX) as a power source, like the “PC01E-1”. Komatsu aims to achieve electrification by FY2023.
Indonesian ridesharing giant Gojek plans to convert all its motorcycles to EVs by 2030. The adoption of EV motorcycles is now in full swing in Indonesia, the largest motorcycle market in Southeast Asia with annual sales of more than 5 million units.
Gojek, the country’s leading ridesharing and delivery company, is said to have over 2 million registered riders, including both motorcycles and cars. The full conversion to EV bikes is expected to contribute significantly to the Indonesian government’s goal of 9 million EV bikes by 2030.
The consolidated financial results for the April-June period of the three major Korean battery companies show significant sales growth. LG Energy Solution’s sales grew 73% y/y and operating profit was 2.4x y/y. SK On’s sales grew 2.9x y/y due to the expansion of EV production. Samsung SDI’s sales grew 23% y/y.
LG Energy, the world’s second largest automotive battery maker, posted a 73% y/y increase in sales to KRW 8.774 trillion (approximately $6.6 billion) and a 2.4x y/y increase in operating profit to KRW 461 billion (approximately $340 million), while its joint production with GM of the U.S., which will begin operations in 2022, also contributed to the continued growth in sales and profit.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has released draft guidelines for the installation of EV chargers, with a target of 300,000 units by 2030. This is double the previous target of 150,000 units and 10X higher than the current number of installations. The company is calling for the installation of chargers in commercial facilities.
The draft guidelines also call on operators to improve the speed of charging and the convenience of operation. To achieve decarbonization, the government is pushing to expand the installation of rechargers, which had only about 30,000 units as of March 2023.
The installation target includes 270,000 regular chargers at commercial facilities and 30,000 fast chargers on highways. The introduction of a new charging method called “plug-and-charge” will also be encouraged. This is a system in which vehicles can be authenticated and charged simply by plugging them into the charger; it has been adopted by Tesla in the United States. The system eliminates the need to hold a membership card over the charger or use a smartphone app to authenticate personal information.
