Kurt Verlin
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Honda Launches Its First Mass-Produced All-Electric Car

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Honda e all-electric car at Red Dot Design Museum
Photo: Honda

The year 2020 marks the beginning of a new era for Honda. Earlier this month, the automaker rolled out its first mass-produced, all-electric car — the Honda e — in Europe, and is set to do the same in Japan this October.

The Honda e is a car that, when it was first revealed in concept form at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show, we hardly believed would ever actually exist. It was simply too stylish. Too retro-cool. And yet, now it does exist, and Honda hopes it will be a common sight in city streets.


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Indeed, the Honda e is a compact car designed solely for city driving, putting it at odds with competing all-electric SUVs with long driving ranges. The Honda e can go “only” 174 miles on a single charge, about half of what a Tesla Model 3 can manage.

But a large battery comes with disadvantages. “Much of that capacity goes unused during city driving,” said Tomofumi Ichinose, chief engineer behind the Honda e. “We question whether larger vehicles are appropriate for urban areas, and believe that smaller is a better option for cities.” In the more densely populated Europe and Japan, a smaller car makes more sense.


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Ichinose says when developing the all-electric, engineers prioritized sharp and accurate handling to enable easy U-turns in narrow streets. It even has interior displays that replace the side mirrors to help it avoid scrapes during parking.

The Honda e’s infotainment system, by the way, is mighty impressive, featuring two screens spanning 12.3 inches each. Check out this other article we’ve written about it.

Honda expects it will sell about 10,000 examples of the Honda e in Europe annually, and 1,000 in Japan, where it will be incorporated into its car-sharing fleet. Unfortunately, there are no plans to bring the Honda e to the United States, where long driving ranges and SUVs are always stealing the spotlight.