Morishima said this was not the case for rival Chinese or South Korean battery suppliers, which expanded their business through mergers and ended up supplying a variety of the equipment needed for battery production. Japanese makers are more balkanised into narrow areas of business, with each supplying only a small part of the production process.
Honda Global | Honda Motor Co., Ltd. today unveiled the demonstration production line for all-solid-state batteries, which is being developed independently by Honda toward mass production.
A lack of strong leadership means suppliers need time to co-ordinate with each other and with customers, making battery manufacturers slower to set up new production lines, he said. Now, there are signs that Japanese suppliers are facing competition from overseas makers in their home market.
Furthermore, Honda is also working to reduce indirect costs of battery production, including power consumption, by implementing various measures, including the establishment of production control technology that minimizes the low dew point environment necessary to ensure work safety and battery performance.
Morishima argued that this Japanese business culture was one factor holding back the country’s EV industry. A lack of strong leadership means suppliers need time to co-ordinate with each other and with customers, making battery manufacturers slower to set up new production lines, he said.
Smaller companies play a big role in Japan’s electric vehicle battery supply chain, indirectly supporting the likes of Toyota Motor and Tesla. But many are struggling to keep pace with the speed and scale of investment needed as EV demand booms, threatening to create bottlenecks in an industry that Tokyo is keen to promote.