Honda
Honda hopes to recharge its electric car portfolio with a pair of new models—plus an Acura—in the coming years. The Japanese automaker has just held a briefing on its business plan, which calls for the company to have an entirely electric portfolio worldwide by 2040. By 2030, it plans to be building 2 million EVs a year.
Here in North America we should start seeing the first of those cars next year. 2024 sees the debut of the Honda Prologue and Acura ZDX, a pair of electric crossovers being developed with General Motors, using the latter’s Ultium battery family. Ars got an early look at the Prologue last year on a visit to Honda’s virtual reality design studio. (We expect some cheaper EVs to emerge from the GM/Honda partnership as well, but not until 2027.)
In 2025, we’ll see another Honda EV, this one on a vehicle architecture it is developing in-house. Honda says this will be a mid- to large-size EV for the North American market. There are also new EV models for China, and some EVs for the Japanese market—three small cars, including a Kei car—that will amplify whatever FOMO feelings you had when Honda didn’t import the Honda e.
North American Honda EVs will use the aforementioned Ultium batteries from a joint venture with LG Energy Solution. Honda’s Chinese EVs will use CATL cells, with Envision AESC providing cells for Japanese EVs.
As we detailed before, the company is investing in solid-state batteries. It’s also working on more powerful, more energy-dense lithium-ion cells with Yuasa.
Finally, words to strike fear into the heart of every Ars reader: Honda says it will accelerate its software development. That 2025 mid- to large-sized EV will be the first new Honda to use the company’s new E&E architecture, which, among other things, includes the ability to apply over-the-air updates. To do so, it will scale up its software workforce, including in the US.
