Honda is poised to become a player in the Electric Vehicle market.
A spokesperson for the company, Japan’s No. 2 automaker, said it was developing an electric car but had not decided when to launch it.
The company could also not comment on the Nikkei business daily’s report, without sources, that a prototype of the car would be unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show in October.
The vehicle is expected to be around the size of a minicar, the Nikkei said.
Other automakers such as Toyota Motor Corp and Volkswagen AG have also announced plans to launch electric cars in the next few years.
But they say it could take decades for the vehicles to spread due to their high cost, limited driving range and long charging times with the current battery technology. Others appear to be more optimistic, with some believing that EV’s and Plug-In Hybrid EV’s will dominate new car technology by 2030. Some manufacturers have been caught behind the curve on EV and PHEV development including Honda, which until recently was betting on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles as the new transport breakthrough, though a huge amount of infrastructure would be needed to create a network of filling stations. As electrical grid is already pervasive in most developed and developing countries, the issue of infrastructure for charging EV and PHEV vehicles is easier and cheaper to implement. Charging times can be accelerated by providing higher voltage/amperage DC charging and most newer vehicles with the newest Lithium-Ion batteries will be able to complete an 80% charge in as little as 20 minutes, making the electric vehicle almost as convenient to fuel as their petroleum-powered counterparts.
Nissan Motor Co, Japan’s third biggest automaker, unveiled its electric car “Leaf” earlier this month with plans to begin selling it in the United States, Japan and Europe towards the end of 2010.
Source: Honda
via Nikkei Business Daily