CHICAGO—Honda plans to launch 30 electric vehicles (EVs) by 2030, spending $40 billion in the initiative over the next decade, reports Bloomberg. The Japanese automaker will produce more than two million vehicles a year, and its vehicle fleet will be 40% EVs by 2030.

Honda pledged to phase out sales of internal combustion engine vehicles by 2040, while last month, Honda issued $2.75 billion of green bonds that it will use to fund the development and production of EVs and fuel-cell cars.

Honda’s new CEO Toshihiro Mibe is pushing the company into the competitive electric-vehicle market, saying the company has “clear plans in place” for a profitable EV business.

Honda is focused on introducing vehicles into the Chinese market, which is the world’s biggest EV market, and will launch 10 EVs in the country over the next five years.

Last week, Honda announced it is partnering with General Motors to codevelop a line of affordable electric vehicles. The companies are working together to enable global production of millions of EVs starting in 2027, including compact crossover vehicles. The compact crossover segment is the largest in the world, with annual volumes of more than 13 million vehicles.

Splitting the R&D and battery costs will allow the auto manufacturers to sell less expensive EVs and scale up production at a global level, says the companies. Rick Schostek, executive vice president of corporate operations for Honda’s U.S. division, said that the EVs would be built using Honda’s existing factories and workforce, including some output in North America.

The battery needed to power an EV can account for roughly one-third of overall cost.

Morgan Stanley says that pass-through costs of lithium carbonate, a key ingredient in EV batteries, could push EV manufacturers to raise prices by as much as 15% and may hit demand. Chinese prices for lithium carbonate have increased fivefold in price over the past year, possibly leading EV battery makers to increase prices by close to 25%, said Morgan Stanley.

Visit the NACS Electric Vehicles topics page for more information about EVs. The NACS EV Charging Calculator was created to allow retailers to assess the cost and profitability of offering EV chargers at their sites. The calculator focuses on what retailer utility costs associated with EV recharging are and what the corresponding revenue must be to recover those costs after allowing for potential ancillary in-store visits and purchase profitability.