Honda is moving into electric power but will continue to push its hydrogen-powered FCX Clarity, the maker says.
Confirming a corporate switch in direction, Honda Motor Co. President and CEO Takanobu Ito will pull the wraps off a pair of new battery cars at the upcoming Los Angeles Motor Show.
While the maker is saving specific details for the November 17th unveiling, it has confirmed that the preview will highlight both a battery-electric vehicle, or BEV, as well as a plug-in hybrid model.
The unveiling underscores Ito’s recent pronouncement that Honda will expand its range of options within the burgeoning electric car market.
Until recently, the maker steadfastly refused to move beyond the mild hybrid approach taken with such models such as the Honda Insight, CR-Z and Civic Hybrid. The Honda Integrated Motor Assist, or IMA, system was designed to recapture energy normally lost during braking and coasting, then reuse it to provide an added boost during vehicle launch and acceleration. But unlike some competitors, like Toyota, with the Prius, Honda’s hybrids could not be run on electric power alone, even for short distances.
Honda appears to have been reluctant about plug-ins and pure battery-electric models for similar reasons that delayed Toyota’s planned entry into such segments: the capabilities and the cost of lithium-ion batteries.
There is general agreement that LIon technology is heavy, costly and, while an improvement over older battery chemistries, delivers barely acceptable range. But the industry is under pressure to push into electric propulsion, if for no other reason than to cope with rapidly rising government mileage mandates.
(Will electric vehicles charge up the market? A new study by J.D. Power predicts limited sales, even by 2020. Click Here for the full report.)
Whatever the reasoning, in July, Ito declared that battery propulsion will get “our highest management priority.”
Honda is expected to continue marketing its mild hybrid line – which has struggled to gain much traction since the fuel price spike of 2008, lagging well behind segment leader Toyota, whose Prius is today the global best-seller among conventional hybrids.
Honda will use the LA Auto Show appearance to reinforce its commitment to another high-mileage, low-emissions technology. The new plug-in and battery cars will sit side-by-side with the Honda FCX Clarity, which the maker bills as the first commercially available fuel cell vehicle.
The Los Angeles show will bring the debut of a number of new electric vehicles, including what is expected to be the first production BEV from Toyota. The RAV4-EV is being developed in cooperation with the California battery-car start-up, Tesla Motors, and will go into production in 2012. (Click Here for more.)