GAC Honda Automobile Plant Starts Making EVs

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Honda Motor (China) Investment Co., a wholly-owned Honda subsidiary in China, announced today that GAC Honda Automobile Co., Ltd. (GAC Honda), a Honda automobile production and sales joint venture in China, began operation of its newly-constructed plant for new energy vehicle (NEV) production, named the Development District NEV Factory. The new factory is located in the Guangzhou Economic and Technological Development District in Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China. Under communist Chinese industrial policy 50% of the JV is owned by GAC.

The latest NEV production plant has state of the art production equipment to achieve a highly efficient, smart, and low-carbon production system. The stamping and welding processes completely eliminated logistics personnel by automating parts logistics. AI-based welding strength inspection was adopted for the first time at any Honda plant. In the assembly process, approximately 30% of the entire process is automated to achieve a highly efficient production line.

To make the plant more environmentally-responsible, solar power systems generating a total of 22 megawatts will be installed within the property of the plant. It is expected that the annual CO2 emissions will be reduced by approximately 13,000 tons [footnote 1] through the utilization of renewable energy. In addition, GAC Honda will strive to further reduce the environmental impact of the plant through the use of newly developed low-VOC [2] paints and the installation of equipment capable of treating 100% of the toxic substances contained in factory wastewater. In order to minimize the impact on air pollution, GAC Honda will aim to reduce VOC emissions from the new plant by more than 70% [3] compared to the standard limit set by Guangdong Province.

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Inevitable Honda GAC Footnotes

1. Calculations based on standards for CO2 emissions by the Chinese government (Ministry of Ecology and Environment)
2. VOC: Volatile Organic Compounds
3. Honda internal research