As we enter the second month of 2025, Honda is inching closer to commencing BEV production at its long-standing US plant in Marysville, Ohio, later this year. That $1 billion transition will begin with the assembly of the recently confirmed Acura RSX EV, followed by the first two models in Honda’s 0 Series lineup. Before that happened, however, Honda gave an exclusive tour of its new EV Hub in Ohio, which included an innovative new approach to modular vehicle assembly, massive mega press machines, and an insightful look into the positive impact Honda has established amongst the residents of The Buckeye State. You can view my whole tour expeirience in the video below.

While Honda is a global name synonymous with engines and mobility, it is still carving out its own legacy in the BEV segment. That process began with two initial all-electric models – the Honda Prologue and the Acura ZDX, both of which I’ve had the opportunity to test drive and share my impressions.

While those two models put some of Honda’s skin in the game, they are arguably only a fraction of Honda’s true design DNA, which it has since taken into its own hands looking forward. That future includes the Honda 0 Series, which was initially announced at CES 2024 as a “back to zero” mentality for the Japanese automaker.

The 0 Series began with two BEV concepts called the “Saloon” and “Space Hub,” which have since evolved in the Honda 0 Saloon and SUV prototypes, which debuted at CES a year later and were on display at Honda’s EV Hub in Marysville, Ohio this past week.

Marysville, home to Honda’s first and longest-running US production facility, will soon house BEV production of the two models mentioned above. First, however, Honda will begin assembling an all-electric Acura SUV developed from the Performance EV Concept, which we recently learned will be called the RSX.

Honda is still putting the finishing touches on a $1 billion overhaul of its new EV Hub in Ohio but invited a group of media out to tour multiple facilities and see where the first true Honda and Acura-built BEVs will be assembled, beginning later this year.

I documented my visit in a video below, but will break it down in words for you as well.

Honda is taking a failsafe approach to production

As you may or may not know, the Honda EV Hub is part of a $1 billion+ investment from the Japanese automaker to retool its existing facilities in Ohio to produce electric vehicles. That includes reimagining three existing plants: the Marysville Auto Plant (MAP), East Liberty Auto Plant (ELP), and the Anna Engine Plant (AEP).

During my EV Hub visit, we started at the Marysville Auto Plant, which originally opened in 1979 and has been building Honda cars since 1982, to see the progress the company has made in revamping a 40+ year old facility for the all-electric age while continuing to build ICE and plug-in vehicles.

What we saw was a unique approach to modern-day vehicle assembly, in which Honda will soon be able to build ICE, hybrid-electric, and BEVs on the same production line. Furthermore, the automaker can ramp up or down any specific vehicle configuration depending on customer demand. Senior vice president, Honda Development & Manufacturing of America, LLC, Bob Schwyn spoke to the media before joining us on the tour of Marysville:

The Honda EV Hub provides Honda with the flexibility to produce ICE, hybrid-electric and EV models on the same production lines so we can quickly respond to shifting customer needs and market conditions. Beyond adding the capability to produce EVs, we completely reimagined our approach to manufacturing, transforming the Honda production environment with more human-friendly processes and sustainable manufacturing practices.

As you’ll see in my video coverage, Honda was in the process of building a slew of Accords, which was interesting in its own right, but what was more exciting was the empty space at the Marysville section of the EV Hub, where Honda will soon begin assembling its battery platforms before integrating them into vehicles on those very same assembly lines, beginning with the Acura RSX.

As you can see in the image below, Honda has cleared out a massive amount of space for dedicated BEV component assembly, which required it to remove an entire existing build line and get creative about where to re-implement other manufacturing components in different parts of the plant – all while continuing to build non-BEV models.

Per the Honda team, the EV Hub will hire 300 new employees to specifically handle battery pack assembly at Marysville. The battery cases for those packs are built at Honda’s Anna Engine Plant, which I also got to visit and have detailed below. Those manufactured cases are then transported to Marysville, where trained Honda “Associates” will work alongside electric guided vehicles (EGVs) and robots to assemble Honda’s first-ever propriety EV platform.

Honda calls the process “Parallel module manufacturing,” which consists of a network of assembly cells performing assembly tasks in a multi-lateral manner in which if one cell is slow or completely down for some reason, production can continue.

Per Honda, the first batch of battery pack assembly cells have been installed at Marysville with a second batch to follow in three months. That will put Honda at its targeted launch volume of which it can scale from there depending on demand.

For me personally, it was awesome to visit AEP and see the megacasting in action because I got to see the same machine at Honda’s R&D center in Tochigi, Japan, this past fall. There, I was told that six more of those megacasting machines would be installed at the EV hub in Ohio.

Just months later, Honda is nearly complete with the installation process, and the three pairs will begin pressing the front and rear battery casings. While I did see the megacast machine in action in Japan, it was at a distance. During my visit to the EV Hub, however, Honda took us onto one of the machines where we could watch an EV battery case cast and trimmed up close. I documented it in my video below for you!

Another assembly technique I learned about in Tochigi but got to see in person at the Anna Engine Plant was Honda’s friction stir welding process. This innovative method produced high-strength welds to combine the two halves of the battery case and the water jacket (seen below) while reducing the amount of energy used and heat impact on the aluminum material.

This technique and Honda’s overall EV Hub renovation are part of a larger three-pronged strategy called “Triple Action to Zero.” Its goal is to achieve zero environmental impact by 2050 through carbon neutrality, clean energy, and resource circulation. That entails all zero-emission sales by 2040.

Honda is building EVs in the US the right way

After my visit to Marysville and Anna, walking the assembly lines and chatting with Honda Associates from all levels of the company, I realized that a vestige of the American dream is still present in Ohio. Marysville and Anna are blue-collar areas, and those cities have continued to evolve thanks to Honda’s decision to plant roots on US soil over 40 years ago.

Many of the people I encountered during my trip have been with the company for longer than I have been on this Earth, some second generation, who grew up watching their parent grow alongside the company and its Ohio footprint.

While much of Honda’s US production history is a bit oily and dusty due to engines and combustion, the EV Hub provides a new era on par with Honda’s overall “back to zero” startup mentality. I was genuinely impressed by Honda’s ability to pivot, rethink, and repurpose its existing facilities to support the addition of BEV production.

Furthermore, the decision to implement those assemblies on the same line as Honda’s ICE and plug-in vehicles sounds like a pipe dream on paper, but in person, the company appears to have pulled it off. But it took everyone in Marysville, East Liberty, and Anna to get there. Honda will continue to rely on those Associates as it approaches the day when its first bespoke BEV on its very own platform rolls off that Marysville assembly line.

With the current political climate and EV education and understanding remaining huge hurdles for Americans and plenty of the public servants who help govern them, the future of BEV production is murky. That’s scary, given our tremendous progress in the past decade.

However, whether people are buying ICE cars, hybrids, PHEVs, or BEVs years from now, Honda has teed itself up to adapt and rise to the challenge (something the company prides itself on) with its EV Hub.

I’ve now learned the where, the when, and the how of BEV production at the Honda EV Hub, but now I’m ready for the what. From what I’ve been told, the 0 Series Saloon and SUV prototypes are “very close” to the final production design, but the Acura RSX remains a bit of a mystery aside from one camouflaged image.

I expect to learn more soon as that SUV will kick off Honda’s EV Hub production in late 2025. Perhaps I can take another trip to Ohio and see it built before driving one myself. While we await that milestone, you can check out my video touring the Marysville and Anna facilities at Honda’s EV Hub below:

Dannar keeps adapting its Mobile Power Station to meet the needs of the electrified off road market, bringing power to forests, construction sites, and rural farms when it’s needed. But now, the MPS doing more than just provide the power to do the work – its moving dirt!

Since I first saw it at the 2020 AFWERKS challenge, the Dannar MPS has seemed to be a solution in search of a problem. What I mean is that, while a 22,000 lb., 500 kW self-propelled battery that can charge itself up on grid power then make its way to the off-grid vehicles that need it makes sense, there just haven’t been that many electric equipment assets deployed. Even at Volvo Days this past summer, where a Dannar MPS was used to bring energy to a Volvo EC230E Electric excavator and L120 Electric wheel loader, it wasn’t obvious that Dannar had a better, more effectively deployable solution than Volvo itself.

Again, a solution in search of a problem – or, is it?

Recently, Dannar has adapted its MPS concept into something more than “just” a rolling battery. Now, Dannar is adding implements, controls, and even whole operator cabs to turn the MPS into a vehicle that cam do real work.

Dannar evolution

Equipment assets and construction equipment are expected to perform thousands of tasks, but a lot of those assets can be built on a common chassis, with third-party upfitters adding the specialized bodies and implements that ultimately get the job done.

After proving that its MPS works, Dannar is pushing the idea that it can serve as a “common chassis” for a few hundred different types of vehicles, too – with Dannar’s (relatively) proven technology platform underneath.

“The chassis cab idea’s been around for a long, long time,” explained Gary Dannar, in an interview with Charged EVs. “It has a frame and possibly a cab on the front, along with an engine and transmission. Now, you can put an ambulance body on there, you can put a tank on there, you can do whatever you want with it.”

Emergency response

Dannar sees a universe where its MPS is something like a new-age ox, ready to take its high-capacity V2G-capable batteries wherever they’re needed, and help clear the road from whatever snow, rocks, or downed trees are blocking its path.

And, in many cases, Dannar is using implements and attachments that are already popular on the market. “We have a hydraulic system on the Mobile Power Station now,” adds Dannar. “The hydraulic system is run from an electric motor, so you end up with the best of both worlds. You have a high-torque electric motor with variable speed that is able to run a hydraulic system extremely efficiently and with a lot of control. That means a lot of these hydraulic attachments and tools actually work better (on the MPS).”

You can see a few concept renderings illustrating some of the possibilities of an upfit Dannar in the field, as well as a prototype MPS with an operator cab and bucket attachment, below. Once you give those a look, let us know what you think of Dannar’s do-it-all concept in the comments.

Dannar MPS + bucket attachment

SOURCES: Dannar, Charged EVs, Power Progress.

Leveraging its advanced autonomy stack, Oshkosh corporation’s AeroTech group has debuted a series of electric support vehicles for the “Airport of the Future” that includes this driverless, electric baggage and cargo handler.

Airport ground support vehicles like baggage handlers, fueling rigs, and airplane tugs are ideal use cases for electrification. They’re purpose-built, route-based vehicles operating exclusively on controlled job sites, on predictable routes, and performing tasks that reward high torque at low speeds. It should come as no surprise, then, that as Oshkosh looks ahead to the future it sees EVs.

“Technology is only as valuable as the positive impact it has on our lives and within our communities,” said John Pfeifer, president and chief executive officer, Oshkosh Corporation. “Our innovations use AI, autonomy, connectivity and electrification to support a safe, productive, quiet and clean future.”

The company believes its electric and autonomous gate and ground support equipment, combined with other connected technologies, will help airlines to optimize operations and reduce travel delays related to cargo and loading.

Oshkosh at CES

The company unveiled its baggage handler at CES last month, where Oshkosh showed-off AI-powerd self-driving vehicles and connected solutions like iOPS and ClearSky Smart Fleet technologies to improve operator safety both at airports and on construction job sites.

The best part? Instead of the vehicle going back to a designated charging area to power up, the power comes to it. When the EV is expected to be stable for a few minutes, an Oshkosh-developed Autonomous Mobile Charging Robot (AMCR). This concept brings wireless charging capabilities directly to equipment to help optimize uptime and support accelerated adoption of electrified products through the company’s ClearSky Smart Fleet technology.

You can check the vehicles out for yourself in the photo gallery, below. The AMCR is shown wearing JLG livery (JLG is a construction equipment brand owned by Oshkosh), and can provide power to any vehicle using a conventional J1772/CCS connector.

Oshkosh gallery

SOURCE | IMAGES: Oshkosk; photos by the author.