Fayette County residents react to Honda’s EV battery plant announcement

FAYTETTE COUNTY — Hundreds of people from across the world were in Columbus Tuesday to hear about a $4.2 billion investment in electric vehicles in Ohio.

Officials from Honda and the state of Ohio announced that the automotive company would be not only investing $700 million into three existing Ohio facilities to assemble electric vehicles (EV), but also $3.5 billion for a new EV battery facility in Fayette County.

“Thank you for your $4 billion investment,” Fayette County Commissioner Tony Anderson said at the announcement Tuesday. “We will take it.”

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News Center 7 spoke with Fayette County residents about the new facility.

“It’ll be great. I hope it brings a lot of revenue and helps everyone out,” Amber Self, of Fayette County, said.

Amy LeBeau, also of Fayette County, agreed and said it was great that the plant would bring opportunities to the county.

Residents that News Center 7 spoke to said that many county residents have to drive out of the county for work. That could change with the 2,200 jobs that are estimated to be created with the plant.

“Today’s a huge day, not just in Ohio but in the Dayton region,” Jeff Hoagland, CEO of Dayton Development Coalition said. “It’s one of the largest projects in the state of Ohio.”

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The Dayton Development Coalition spearheaded the work to bring this investment to Ohio.

There may be a few drawbacks as the plant location will need a few upgrades.

“In and out, with the roadways and the traffic could have some issues there,” LeBeau said.

Still, most residents News Center 7 talked to think will be ironed out over the three years it’s estimated to take to build the plant and make it operational.

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