Honda signs JV contract with GS Yuasa

Honda Motor Co. Inc. has announced that it has signed a joint-venture (JV) contract with battery-maker GS Yuasa Corp. to form Blue Energy Co. Ltd., which will manufacture, sell, research, and develop lithium-ion batteries for hybrid vehicles. The company was established in April and will have its headquarters in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. Under the contract, the capital ratio in Blue Energy will be split 51:49, respectively, between GS Yuasa Power Supply Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of GS Yuasa, and Honda Motor Co. Masahiko Oshitani, executive officer of GS Yuasa, will become president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Blue Energy, the two companies added. Honda and GS Yuasa initiated their talks on a possible alliance in December last year and signed a basic agreement in the same month on the establishment of a new JV, although the name of the new company and a timescale for its launch had not been decided at that point. It has been decided that the new company will manufacture batteries based on GS Yuasa’s 6Ah-class prismatic Li-ion EH6 cell and will also explore ways of optimizing the performance of next-generation hybrid vehicles. (March 25, 2009)