JEFFERSONVILLE − Honda has officially broken ground on its new plant to make batteries for electric vehicles, a $3.5 billion venture that further deepens the automaker's long ties to Ohio.

The automaker, along with its new partner, LG Energy Solution, celebrated the event with state and local government, business and community officials gathered under a tent at the site just off Interstate 71 in Fayette County.

Their joint venture L-H Battery Co. plant marks a major move away from gasoline-powered motors for Honda and a significant step toward the automaker's push to sell exclusively battery-electric and fuel-cell electric vehicles by 2040, said Toshihiro Mibe, Honda's president and CEO.

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"To meet our goal, we really have to start building this battery plant to supply batteries for our electric vehicles starting in 2025 here in Ohio for mass production," he said through a translator after the ceremony. "Honda has a traditional quality to manufacture where demand exists. Because we want to supply high quality automobiles for American customers, we naturally want to build cars and the batteries here in America."

The battery plant will create 2,200 jobs, expecting to come from Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus and parts of Appalachia as well as Fayette County.

"This is Ohio's time," Gov. Mike DeWine told the crowd of about 300 people who gathered inside a tent on the site. "This is our time in history."

Honda trails other automakers in electric vehicle development

Honda and LG announced in October their plans for the plant as Honda pushes to catch up to other automakers when it comes to production of electric vehicles.

In addition to the battery plant, Honda will spend $700 million to retool three of its Ohio plants − Marysville Auto Plant, the East Liberty Auto Plant and the Anna Engine Plant − to make electric vehicles and provide components for them. The expansion will add 327 jobs.

Honda plans to begin production of EVs in 2026. The automaker has set a goal of all of its sales coming from battery-electric and fuel-cell electric vehicles by 2040, and becoming carbon neutral for all products and corporate activities by 2050.

The deal marks a new partnership between Honda and LG.

"This is the first chapter in our history together," said Robert Lee, the CEO of the joint venture between the companies, who unveiled a rendering of the plant with Chief Operating Officer Rick Riggle. "Our joint venture is very special."

Construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2024. Production of pouch-type, lithium-ion batteries is scheduled to begin by the end of 2025.

The $3.5 billion initial investment by the companies is expected to grow to $4.4 billion.

Work at the site has already started

The companies have been working at the site since the announcement in October, bringing in truckload after truckload of stone to ready the 450-acre site for construction of the plant itself and other buildings on the site.

Three companies − Turner Construction, Kokosing Industrial and Yates Construction − have formed a venture called TYK to build the plant.

Turner built Honda's Marysville Auto Plant that opened in 1982 and the East Liberty Auto Plant that started production in 1989.

The site of the plant is part of a 2,300-acre site east of I-71 near U.S. Route 35, near Jeffersonville, about 40 miles southwest of Columbus and 70 miles northeast of Cincinnati dubbed the Midwest Mega Commerce Center.

The plant will have 2 million square feet, enough to hold 78 football fields.

Honda's long history in Ohio

Honda's history in the state dates to 1979 when the first motorcycle was assembled in Marysville.

Honda no longer makes motorcycles in Ohio, but Honda's investment in the state has grown to now include the Anna Engine Plant, the East Liberty Auto Plant, the Marysville Auto Plant, the Performance Manufacturing Center in Marysville and the Russells Point transmission plant.

Honda has invested $14.2 billion in Ohio and has 14,400 employees in the state.

mawilliams@dispatch.com

@BizMarkWilliams

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Electric-vehicle battery plant in Fayette County to employ 2,200