Honda launching mid- to large-size EV on own platform in 2025

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Honda has apparentky taken to releasing all its most important business announcements via YouTube these days so, if you’re looking to be bored for half-an-hour while wading through the company’s explanations of its corporate ”improvements to the earnings structure” or “new value creation,” by all means click through to sit through the same presentation I did.

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If, on the other hand, you’d rather get straight to the meat of it, then sit tight and read on for the next three minutes.

Honda wants all its cars to be EVs and FCEVs by 2040

Honda’s stated goal is for its vehicle range to be 100-per-cent EV and FCEV globally by 2040. To this end, the company hopes to produce more than two million EVs annually by 2030, roughly equal to 50 per cent of the cars it sold worldwide in 2022.

In North America, the first of those new EVs will be the Honda Prologue and Acura’s ZDX. Both will be built in conjunction with General Motors, which means they will be using The General’s Ultium battery technology. According to Car and Driver, the Prologue will share some componentry with the Chevy Blazer. Ditto the ZDX, since it’s based on the same platform.

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Honda also says it will build a mid- to large-size EV, possibly an SUV or pickup, based on its own e:Architecture platform, for sale in North America in 2025. The automaker had formerly said a vehicle based on that chassis wouldn’t land on our shores until 2026, indicating that apparently plans have been ramped up a year.

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In Japan and China, Honda expects to have market-specific EVs ready by 2024, and, by 2035, all Hondas sold in China will be electric.

Honda’s electrifying its motorcycle range, too

Worldwide, Honda hopes to introduce at least 10 fully electric motorcycle models by 2025. It also plans sell 3.5 million e-bikes by 2030, which would represent 15 per cent of the 23 million two-wheelers it hopes to sell by the end of the decade.

Some of those, such as the EM1 e:, will be powered by swappable batteries that will allow quick recharging at local swapping stations. Before you get excited about a seismic shift in the world of motorcycles that you didn’t see coming, understand that almost all of the planned e-bikes will be scooters, or the equivalent of 125-cc mini-motorcycles, and that battery swapping is not feasible, at least not in the near future, for the full-sized motorcycles that dominate North American markets.

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Honda has ambitions to develop its own EV batteries

In the near-term, Honda will “procure” its batteries from GM. It also has a planned joint venture with LG Energy Solutions in Ohio scheduled to come on-line by the end of the year. Like almost all automakers, Honda also has plans to collaborate with China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Company — you might know it better as “CATL” — to source the batteries it needs overseas.

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Starting in the second half of the 2020s — yes, Honda is behind the times — Honda will develop its own next-generation batteries, including semi-solid-state and fully-solid-state versions. The solid-state technology is scheduled to be first revealed sometime in 2024, but probably won’t be available for mass consumption until closer to 2030.

Despite developing its own architectures, however, it appears the hook-up with General Motors is a long-term arrangement for North American production. Besides jointly developing a range of affordable EVs to be launched in 2027 and beyond, the two companies “will continue exploring a broad range of collaborations which will combine the respective strengths of the two companies and increase competitiveness in the areas of core electrification components.” In other words, it’s all-hand on deck as Honda “re-tools” as quickly as it can.

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Honda plans to retool American plants—but no word on Canada’s role

Honda is planning to re-tool three existing Honda North American plants, all in the U.S., to cope with this expected demand. Two assembly plants in Ohio — the Marysville Auto Plant and East Liberty Auto Plant — are part of the refurbishing, as is one powertrain plant, the Anna Engine Plant, and these plants will serve as Honda’s EV Hub for production in North America. There is no mention of Honda Canada’s Alliston, Ontario facility — where Civics, Ridgelines, and Acura’s MDXes are produced — joining in on this EV revolution.

Honda also says it will “shift to production processes which reduce CO₂ emissions to the utmost limit.” In fact, by 2026, the company hopes that the Saitama plant in Japan will be 100-per-cent carbon neutral.

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Honda wants to get into car-to-grid energy transfer

Though it offered few details, Honda is also prioritizing the concept of using your EV’s battery as, well, a battery, promising to put together an architecture whereby your car can provide electricity to your home or to the grid. In the first case, this will occur through Honda SmartCharge, the company’s current EV-charging system.

Secondly, as part of a scheme to feed some of your car’s juice back into your local energy utility’s grid — commonly known as “car-to-grid” energy transfer — Honda says it will create an “energy business that utilizes the power supply capability of EVs.” Engineers love this capability because it means the grid has emergency supply in times of peak demand. Owners seem to be a little more skeptical, because it would allow utilities to drain their battery when it faces an energy crunch.

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Honda’s even changing its company slogan

No, Honda isn’t ditching “The Power of Dreams.” But it is adding a new sub-tagline — “How We Move You” — which is supposed to represent how “every Honda associate will ‘move’ people physically and also ‘move’ people’s hearts.”

It’s also decided to focus on three specific corporate actions — “Create. Transcend. Augment.” — which together “embody the essential value of all mobility products and services,” so that “through the creation of the mobility Honda dreams of, Honda will become ‘The Power of Dreams’ of more and more people.”

Sum it all up and, if you want an even shorter synopsis of that video than the one I promised at the beginning of this analysis, it is this: Honda has been slow in recognizing this shift to battery power. It’s now trying to catch up as quickly as it can.