Honda Will Use Toyota Batteries To Keep Its Hybrids Affordable Amid Tariffs: Report

With no end in sight to one of the weirdest trade wars in history, we’re bound to see prior norms uprooted, old ties severed, and new alliances formed. Case in point: A new report claims that Honda might use batteries made by Toyota in North Carolina to limit the impact of proposed blanket tariffs.

At the same time, Chinese automaker BYD just unveiled an electric car that can charge about as quickly as it takes to fill up the tank of a gasoline-powered car, California’s electric vehicle HOV lane perk might be coming to an end, and Ford just facelifted a 34-year-old vehicle. Think buccal fat removal, but for a van. All this coming up on today’s edition of The Morning Dump.

Honda Might Use Toyota Batteries To Avoid Tariffs

By now, we’ve covered how potential tariffs can make entire vehicles more expensive along with little parts to make cars, but what about major powertrain components like hybrid batteries? Well, on-shoring might need to happen quickly, and Nikkei Asia reports that Honda will soon get American-made batteries from Toyota to put into its U.S.-market hybrid models like the Civic, Accord, and CR-V as a way of mitigating tariff risks. As the newspaper wrote, “Starting in fiscal 2025, Honda will take in batteries for approximately 400,000 vehicles, enough for all of the HVs it sells in the country.”

This tracks with Toyota’s timeline for its North Carolina battery plant, which is slated to open in April. The plant is expected to have 14 battery production lines for hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery electric models, so it makes sense for Honda to tap Toyota for any potential excess capacity.

It’s also worth noting that cars like the Civic, CR-V, and Accord aren’t just seriously popular, they also sit on the more affordable end of the new car spectrum, which means consumers would certainly feel any pass-through of tariffs into final retail prices. Even on models made Stateside, the effect of these proposed tariffs could be profound, as the Nikkei reports.

Honda estimates that 25% reciprocal tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods could cost the company around $4.7 billion annually. The company plans to shift some production from Canada and Mexico to the U.S. and restructure its supply chain to minimize the impact on its business.

Considering a prior Reuters report that Honda might keep Civic production in Indiana to avoid tariffs, it seems like the Japanese automaker is taking some heavy proactive measures to avoid the potential impact of a prolonged trade war. While we still have yet to see what effect this has on models made in Canada and Mexico, I wouldn’t be surprised if we learn soon enough.

BYD Might’ve Just Fixed Charging Times

Even in 2025, one of the worst parts of the electric vehicle experience is DC fast charging. It’s improved substantially from the early days of supplying just 50 kW, but even at up to 350 kW, it’s nowhere near as fast as filling up a combustion-powered car. After all, I just pumped half a tank into a Cayenne GTS in about four minutes, and that’s a reasonably large tank. Well, it seems that the nut of ultra-fast charging might’ve been cracked. Chinese automaker BYD just unveiled a platform that can charge at 1,000 kW, and it comes with a series of bold promises.

The new 1,000-volt, 1,000-amp Super e-Platform features a higher nominal voltage than anything we get in North America, batteries with a 10C rating, and a new electric drive unit that can crank out 777 horsepower all on its own. With the right charger, BYD claims models on this architecture like the “Han L” can add 249 miles of range in just five minutes of charging. On paper, that’s nearly ICE car fast, but there are a few catches.

Let’s start with that claim of adding 249 miles of range in five minutes. That’s likely on China’s economy testing cycle, so it wouldn’t directly translate to 249 miles of range as we know it under EPA test procedures. It’s also quite likely that due to differences in rolling resistance and drag, not all future models will add precisely 249 miles of range in five minutes. As ever, your mileage may vary.

However, the bigger catch is infrastructure. Even in China, Megawatt chargers aren’t exactly everywhere, and BYD doesn’t have a firm timeline on its rollout of 4,000 DC fast charging stations that can take full advantage of this new platform. It’s worth noting that many cases of range anxiety are really cases of infrastructure anxiety, and while the capability of charging at 1,000 kW is cool, spotty charger availability will put some limitations on the technology for now. However, it’s cool to think that in a decade, we could see 1,000 kW DC fast charging out there to add an LA to Vegas trip-worth of juice to a car in just a handful of minutes.

EV HOV Lane Access Is In Limbo

If you live in California, you’ve probably been tempted by the EV perk of single-occupant carpool lane access. I certainly can’t blame you, because those little stickers could be your ticket to get home sooner, which means less time in rush hour and more time to do the things you want to do in life. It’s a great little incentive, but it’s one that might be coming to an end. As Automotive News reports:

The federal statute says public authorities can allow use of carpool lanes by single-occupancy vehicles meeting certain conditions until Sept. 30. California legislators want to extend the window, but lawmakers in Washington, D.C., have yet to introduce a bill or otherwise move to authorize an extension.

On the one hand, I can understand sunsetting the incentive since zero emission vehicles made up 25.3 percent of all new cars sold in California last year, and a whopping 194,486 Clean Air Vehicle decals were issued. Once you hit that level of market penetration, there’s a good chance taking the HOV lane might not always be faster with so many vehicles eligible to access it. As California Air Resource Board air pollution specialist John Swanton told Automotive News:

“You’re going to reach some point where you’ve exhausted that excess capacity. We’re not at the point where, no matter what we do, it’s totally exhausted, but the challenge to our legislature is how to keep this a meaningful incentive.”

On the other, with many automakers readjusting their powertrain mixes and the federal government potentially cutting EV programs in the near future, is now the right time to end this program? Only time will tell, but for now, don’t count on an electric vehicle to get you through traffic faster beyond September. [Ed Note: My 2021 BMW i3 is eligible until September 30; is it worth trying to get those stickers for just 5 months of HOV access? -DT]

Not Dead Yet

I don’t know about you, but general news in these unprecedented times can be a bit exhausting, so here’s something that’s delightfully boring, The oldest current Ford just got a new grille.

Yes, the E-Series Cutaway van that debuted in 1992 has received the lightest of facelifts, with a subtle riff on Ford’s C-clamp grille that’s sure to go relatively unnoticed unless you really know what to look for. This is the E-Series’ first cosmetic update since 2008, and while it won’t move the needle spectacularly, the first time you see a 2026 E-Series Cutaway in the wild should be a mild delight.

What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD

When it comes to post-hardcore bands, few have a repertoire quite as accomplished as that of Alexisonfire. From getting past the censors on “Open Mike” because nobody on the production team knew the words to “Pulmonary Archery” to one of the best House of Strombo performances ever, the St. Catharines, Ontario outfit has a catalog of banger after banger. In that discography, “Passing Out In America” is a weird one because it’s actually a Moneen cover. Are there technically better Alexisonfire songs out there? Absolutely, but for some reason I find myself drawn to this performance time and time again, perhaps due to its grand riffs and perhaps due to its lyrical poignancy. “I wanted to cry” indeed.

The Big Question

It’s been half a freaking decade since many of us were told to take two weeks off work and got some extra time to work on our project cars, so I want to know what you did with that unexpected free time. I ended up buying my 325i and helping a friend who used to live next door with a suspension rebuild on his Celica Supra, how about you?

Top graphic credit: Honda

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