Honda to only sell electric vehicles in Europe by 2025

Japanese car manufacturer Honda has launched ambitious plans to only sell vehicles using electric powertrains in Europe within six years, which will be complemented by new energy management partnerships.


Honda to only sell electric vehicles in Europe by 2025

Honda says movement towards electrification has "gathered pace significantly"

The firm made the announcement at the Geneva Motor Show, where its senior vice president for Europe, Tom Gardner, said it was making the move alongside its overall global shift to electrification by 2030, which will see Honda produce two-thirds of total sales from electric vehicles (EVs) by this time.

Gardner said the shift to electrification “has gathered pace considerably”, describing technological changes as “unrelenting” with customers also shifting their view on EVs.

It came as the firm also unveiled its latest electric model, the e Prototype, that the company claims will have a range of more than 200km, as well as a fast-charge functionality that provides 80% range in 30 minutes. It hopes to move towards a production model by the end of 2019.

Also within the statement by Gardner were a series of announcements on developing partnerships with smart grid firm Moixa and Ubitricity to support energy management plans.

Gardner described it as a “significant move” which would create additional value for power system operators and customers. He also said Honda was planning feasibility studies for its new technologies in London and Offenbach, Germany, with further announcements expected by the end of the year.

Electric strategy

The news follows a series of announcements from Honda since 2016 on its corporate strategy towards electrification, which included the firm shifting production to petrol-battery hybrid, plug-in hybrid, battery electric and fuel cell vehicles from 5% to 65% of vehicles.

Plug-in hybrids have been ‘at the core’ of its electrification plan, and the plans to move to 100% electric powertrains means it can still focus on selling hybrid vehicles alongside ‘pure’ electric cars.

Honda has been at the forefront of EV infrastructure development in the UK too. In March 2018, it teamed up with other firms, local bodies and academic institutions on a project to demonstrate the business case for Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technologies across the UK, providing its Power Manager system, which enables the distribution of electricity between the grid and consumers through EVs, solar-panel equipped homes and workplaces.

Geneva Motor Show

The Honda statement is the latest news from the Geneva Motor Show which has featured a large number of EV announcements from global car manufacturers, either presenting vehicles at prototype stage or for production.

Audi unveiled its latest compact e-SUV, the Q4 e-tron; Volkswagen revealed its ID electric buggy car; Kia also showed a new electric concept vehicle; and a new claim for the fastest road car in the world was shown off by Italian firm Automobili Pininfarina, which said its Battista supercar could do 0-62mph in less than two seconds and had a top speed in excess of 200mph.

James Evison

Comments (1)

  1. David Dundas says:

    It’s surprising that there’s no mention of Hydrogen fueled electric vehicles (FCEVs) at the Geneva show, considering that they are available in Germany where there are now over 50 hydrogen filling stations in operation. The UK has about 10 hydrogen filling stations, mainly in London.

    A hydrogen FCEV can be refilled just as quickly as petrol or diesel, and its power density per kilo is much higher than a battery, so they will replace EV’s over the next 10 years. Maybe the British reporter didn’t think FCEVs were worth mentioning?

    Either way, the electric power to charge an EV or to hydrolyse water to hydrogen still needs to come from a fossil-free source.

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