Honda Motor Company has been collaborating with other car manufacturers left and right. Back in October, it signed a Memorandum of Understanding with fellow Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Corporation aimed at creating new businesses en route to carbon neutrality.
At the moment, Honda and Mitsubishi are lining up Altna to conduct three new businesses: battery leasing, battery repurposing, and smart charging.Altna will offer lease plans starting with the N-Van. Altna will be able to retain ownership of the batteries of leased vehicles and monitor their usage during the lease period. This will allow the company to continuously collect data and enhance the reliability of the battery measured by various parameters.
As for the smart charging business, Altna will offer EV charging plans that ultimately help EV users avoid charging during peak hours. “Through the linkage between its energy control system and customers’ EVs, charging will be automatically performed at the time of day when the procurement cost of electricity is lowest according to their vehicle usage schedule.