Honda forms ALTNA JV with Mitsubishi Corp

Honda Motor Company. (Honda) and Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) will establish a new 50/50 joint venture, ALTNA Co., Ltd. (ALTNA), in July 2024. 

 The two companies decided to establish a joint venture and work together to address challenges toward the implementation of EVs and the realisation of a decarbonised society.

By combining Honda technologies for EVs and batteries and MC power-generation know-how, which extends to the administration of storage-battery systems and smart-charging operations, ALTNA will strive to offer new mobility services that reduce the total cost of ownership for EV users and create new power-supply operations that enable long-term utilisation of EV batteries.

ALTNA will operate battery leasing, battery repurposing, and intelligent charging businesses. Seiichi Fukui will be appointed as representative director, president and chief executive of ALTNA.

“Honda is working toward a vertically integrated EV value chain that includes all aspects of EV business, from procuring raw materials to producing finished EVs and repurposing and recycling EV batteries. We are very pleased to establish a new company with MC, which has deep knowledge of the electric power business and shares our aspiration to realise a decarbonised society,” Honda president Toshiro Mibe says.

Mitsubishi Corporation president Katsuya Nakanichi says the new joint venture will take on challenges to introduce a new scheme that separates vehicle ownership and battery of a single EV unit.

“Working toward the realisation of a carbon-neutral society through the societal implementation of EVs, we will leverage MC’s broad range of industrial contacts and business expertise and continue to work on establishing cross-industrial business models,” he says. 

Battery leasing

In collaboration with Honda and MC leasing affiliates, ALTNA will begin selling lease plans, starting with the Honda N-VAN EV, which will launch in October 2024. 

When a vehicle is leased to a customer, ALTNA will retain ownership of the battery and monitor battery usage during the lease period. Continuous monitoring of the battery conditions, including predictions of future deterioration, will enhance the reliability of the battery measured by various parameters, including the battery’s state of health (SOH). Based on such high reliability of batteries, ALTNA will conduct business that utilises batteries for an extended period, or for their entire life cycle, from the time of new vehicle sales through the ownership by second and subsequent owners.  

After the end of automotive use, batteries will be recovered and utilised for ALTNA’s grid storage battery business (battery repurposing business). ALTNA will set leasing prices based on the assumption that batteries will be utilised for an extended period, from on-vehicle to stationary applications, reducing the financial burden on EV users.  

Battery repurposing  

ALTNA will also conduct an electric power business to repurpose end-of-life EV batteries and manage them as grid storage batteries. This will provide the supply-demand adjustment capacities to enable more excellent grid stability and contribute to the widespread utilisation of renewable energy. 

Through its battery leasing business, ALTNA will continuously monitor the use conditions of EV batteries and then recover end-of-life EV batteries based on data obtained through long-term monitoring. By fully utilising such batteries, ALTNA will achieve long-term and stable operation of its grid storage batteries. 

ALTNA will ensure appropriate recycling of its end-of-life grid storage batteries to realise resource circulation-oriented manufacturing.  

Smart Charging 

ALTNA will also offer EV charging plans that optimise electricity costs for EV users by leveraging advanced energy-control technologies to avoid charging EVs during on-peak hours on the grid. Through the linkage between its energy control system and customers’ EVs, charging will be automatically performed when the procurement cost of electricity is lowest according to their vehicle usage schedule. 

This will eliminate the customer burden of identifying the optimal charging timing on their own and contribute to the reduction of their EV usage cost. In addition, ALTNA’s charging plans will contribute to the increased use of green (renewable) energy by charging EVs when there is a surplus of renewable energy on the power grid. 

ALTNA will consider offering V2G services to open up the electricity market in the future.