Honda e: A Cute, Practical, & Efficient Electric Car

The Honda e electric car is a perfect example of an efficient package that should be entertaining to drive given its light weight, 148 horsepower, 221 foot-pounds of torque, rear-wheel-drive configuration, and 50/50 weight distribution.

It will come with a 35.5 liquid-cooled battery and a projected 200 km (124 mile) range.

An 80% recharge in 30 minutes is also part of the package.

If we look at the market at the moment, there is a trend where manufacturers are competing with each other with driving range.

Consequently, batteries are getting bigger and heavier. From Honda’s perspective, this is counterproductive because that makes cars bigger and impractical for city usage.

Honda however believes a range of more than 200 km with charging up to 80 per cent in 30 minutes is practical for daily usage — not always carrying a huge and heavy battery around for maybe that one time at the end of the week where you have to drive long distance.

They plan to launch this in France, Germany, Norway, and UK for now.

The Honda e bears a striking resemblance to the original Honda Civic that went into production in 1972. Back then, conventional wisdom said nobody wanted small, efficient cars.

Many predicted Honda would soon go bankrupt ;o)

Reference- Clean Technica, Honda PR