Honda and Mitsubishi have announced plans to establish a new 50/50 joint venture company, ALTNA Co. Ltd, focusing on new businesses ventures stemming from growth in the electric vehicle (EV) market.

A statement from the two Japanese car makers said they had established the joint venture “to address challenges toward the societal implementation of EVs and the realisation of decarbonised society”.

ALTNA’s business focus will include optimisation of EV usage cost, enhancement of the lifetime value of EV batteries, and supplying grid storage batteries that will help increase the proportion of renewable energy in the energy mix in Japan.

“By combining Honda control and connected technologies for EVs and batteries and MC (Mitsubishi Corporation) 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,” a statement from the new joint venture said.

A new battery leasing business will be at the heart of the plan, starting with the Honda N-VAN e, a new commercial-use mini-EV scheduled to launch in October 2024.

Under what it terms a closed-end lease, when a vehicle is leased to a customer ALTNA will retain ownership of the battery and monitor battery usage throughout the lease period.

By continuously monitoring the battery conditions, including predictions of future battery deterioration, ALTNA believes it will be able to enhance the reliability of its EV batteries to ensure greater longevity. This includes from the time of new vehicle sales through to 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.

By designing this repurposed storage battery business into the EV business case upfront, ALTNA believes it will be able to set lower leasing prices, based on the assumption that batteries will be utilised for a long period of time, in both vehicle and stationary applications.

The ALTNA plan promises to offer corporate users end-to-end customer support to address challenges associated with the introduction of EVs, from establishing fleet electrification plans to setting up charging infrastructure and optimising vehicle use.

ALTNA will also conduct an electric power business to repurpose end-of-life EV batteries and manage these as grid storage batteries.

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The company believes this will provide the supply-demand adjustment capacities to enable greater grid stability and contribute to widespread utilisation of renewable energy.

ALTNA will also offer EV charging plans that optimise electricity costs for EV users by leveraging advanced energy-control technologies to avoid charging on the grid during peak hours.

ALTNA plans to link its energy control system and customers’ EVs, so that charging will be automatically performed at the time of day when the cost of electricity is lowest.

These charging plans will also contribute to the increased use of green (renewable) energy by charging EVs during times when there is a surplus of renewable energy on the power grid.

There’s no indication at this stage that Honda and Mitsubishi’s ALTNA joint venture will be extended to Australia, but given the fact renewable energy is such a hot-button topic, and with the number of EVs our roads steadily rising, the idea is one that could well work here as well as Japan.

Mitsubishi Australia has separately just announced it has acquired a 5% stake of fleet leasing company FleetPartners Group, which would position the company well for any such initiative.