The head of Honda Motor Co., Takanobu Ito, will later this month unveil a new electric concept car at the Los Angeles car show on November 17 – the first time a Honda chief executive will have unveiled a new model at the show and a sign that Japan’s second-largest car maker is warming to the idea of electric vehicles (EVs).
In stark contrast with the pro-electric stance adopted by Nissan and Toyota, head of research and development at Honda, Tomohiko Kawanabe, earlier this year told Bloomberg news: “We are definitely conducting research on electric cars, but I can’t say I can wholeheartedly recommend them… It’s questionable whether consumers will accept the annoyances of limited driving range and having to spend time charging them.”
Six months later, Takanobu Ito, who took over as chief executive last year, told reporters at a test-drive event near Tokyo this week that “It’s starting to look like there will be a market for electric vehicles (EVs).”
Honda had previously appeared committed to hydrogen fuel-cell technology because it offers a range cpmparable with that of a petrol or diesel-powered vehicle. In contrast, the Nissan Leaf, which goes on sale in America next month, has a range of only 100 miles before it needs to be recharged. But according to Takanobu Ito “…not everybody needs to drive 500 km a day.”
Nissan revealed today that it has 27,000 confirmed orders for the Leaf.
A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association (ETA): “Estimates on the uptake of electric cars vary wildly – if current incentives are not built upon there may be no more than 70,000 electric cars on British roads by 2020.”
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