S.Korea's LG Energy Solution plans battery JV with Honda in U.S. -media report

SEOUL, Jan 14 (Reuters) - South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution (LGES) plans to build a battery joint venture with Honda Motor Co in the United States, South Korea's Maeil Business Newspaper said on Friday, citing an unnamed industry source.

The potential battery JV between LGES and Honda could cost as much as 4 trillion won ($3.4 billion) and have an annual production capacity of up to 40 gigawatt hours (GWh) of batteries, enough to power 600,000 electric vehicles (EVs), the newspaper reported. The report did not have details, such as the timeline of when the JV would be built and begin operations.

"We are discussing various ways to cooperate with automakers, including establishing joint ventures, but nothing has been decided," LGES said in a statement.

Honda did not respond immediately to a request for comment on the report.

LGES, LG Chem Ltd's battery subsidiary, commands more than 20% of the global EV battery market and supplies Tesla Inc, General Motors Co and Volkswagen among others.

LGES, which has battery production sites in the United States, China, South Korea, Poland and Indonesia, plans to invest a total of 5.6 trillion won in North America by 2024 to secure production capacity of over 160 GWh by 2025 in the region, according to the company's filing.

That includes two new plants jointly built with GM in Ohio and Tennessee as well as a battery joint venture with Stellantis .

($1 = 1,186.11 won) (Reporting by Heekyong Yang; Editing by Karishma Singh)