Japan’s Honda Motor Co. said on Tuesday it has signed a joint venture agreement with the U.S. based battery research startup SES Holdings to launch higher density and low-cost lithium-metal batteries for electric vehicles. What Happened Honda said the joint venture will focus on making safe, durable, and higher capacity batteries with lithium-metal anode that are expected to deliver higher energy density than the lithium-ion batteries, which usually use carbon-based materials for the anode. Honda last year said it aims to increase the ratio of electric vehicles to 40 percent of overall sales by 2030, to 80 precent by 2035, and to 100 percent by 2040. “The battery is an essential component of EVs, and Honda has been concurrently looking into several options toward the realization of high-capacity, safe and low-cost next-generation batteries,” Shinji Aoyama, managing executive officer in charge of electrification at Honda, said in a statement. Honda plans …