 Japans Honda Motor Co NYSE: HMC 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. 