Honda goes small with first all-electric car
29 August, 2020
As many automakers gamble on sedans and SUVs in the switch to electric vehicles (EV), Japan's Honda Motor Co Ltd has decided smaller is better because of its first-ever all-battery car.
The Honda e, released in Europe earlier this month, is a compact model meant solely for city driving. That contrasts with Tesla Inc , whose Model 3 sedan dominates the battery EV market, and others such as Audi AG and Hyundai Motor Co that contain centered on SUVs with long driving ranges.
High battery costs have kept EVs at the premium end of the automobile market, and several automakers are developing bigger, all-purpose models, a few of which can drive so far as 570 kilometers about the same charge.
The Honda e, however, includes a battery capacity roughly half that of the Model 3, driving just 280 kilometers per charge.
"Most EVs use large capacity batteries, but often, a lot of that capacity goes unused during city driving," said Tomofumi Ichinose, chief engineer of the Honda e, told reporters earlier this week. "We question whether larger vehicles work for cities, and think that smaller is a much better option for cities."
With a retro, ultra-compact design evoking Honda's classic N360 and N600 models from the 1960s, the two-door Honda e is supposed as an upmarket city car, whose price of around 33,000 euros ($39,000) is higher than Renault's Zoe ZE50, which is roomier and has a longer driving range.
Ichinose said Honda engineers had prioritised accurate and sharp handling to enable easy u-turns in narrow streets. Side mirrors have already been replaced with interior displays in order to avoid bumps and scrapes during parking.
The model is only going to be sold in Europe and Japan, where it continues on sale in late October. Honda expects total annual sales of only around 10,000 in Europe, and 1,000 in the home, where it will introduce the model into its car-sharing fleet.
The automaker said it had no plans to advertise the car in THE UNITED STATES or China, its biggest markets where SUVs dominate.
Source: japantoday.com
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