Honda
Honda hopes to supercharge its electric car portfolio in the coming years with a few new models – plus an Acura. The Japanese automaker has just held a briefing on its business plan, which calls for an all-electric portfolio worldwide by 2040. By 2030, it plans to build 2 million electric cars per year.
Here in North America, we should start seeing the first of those cars next year. 2024 will see the debut of the Honda Prologue and Acura ZDX, a pair of electric crossovers being developed with General Motors, using its Ultium battery family. Ars got an early look at the Prologue last year while visiting Honda’s virtual reality design studio. (We expect some cheaper EVs to emerge from the GM/Honda partnership as well, but not until 2027.)
We’ll see another Honda EV in 2025, this one on a vehicle architecture it’s developing in-house. Honda says this will be a mid-to-large 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 add to the 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, while Envision will provide AESC cells for Japanese EVs.
As we described earlier, the company invests in solid state batteries. It’s also working on more powerful, more energy-dense lithium-ion cells with Yuasa.
Finally, words to frighten any Ars reader: Honda says it will accelerate its software development. That mid-to-large electric car from 2025 will be the first new Honda to use the company’s new E&E architecture, which includes the ability to apply over-the-air updates. To do this, it will scale up its software workforce, including in the US.
