First full EVs to use GM batteries for MY 2024
Solid state battery test line starts this year
Honda has just announced that it is working to speed up the brand’s electrification. Still, it has plenty of ground to make up to hit the new target of ZEVs at 40 percent of sales by 2030, and the brand says that its first volume-selling EVs won’t be available here until model year 2024.
The automaker’s new target is to hit 40 percent of sales as ZEVs by 2030 with 80 percent by 2035 and a target of 100 percent “zero emission electrified vehicles” globally by 2040. That includes both battery electric vehicles as well as fuel cell electric vehicles.
Honda restated plans to bring two “large-sized EV models” to market for MY 2024, one from Honda and one from Acura, both using the General Motors Ultium powertrain. In the second half of this decade, Honda says it plans to launch models on its own upcoming e:Architecture, an all-new platform that the brand says will be “led by Honda” suggesting that it will have another manufacturer partner. Those models will go on sale in North America first, then roll out globally.
Work continues on next-gen solid-state batteries and they’re expected to arrive in the second half of this decade and offer lower cost and increased capacity. Honda says it will start a demonstration line to begin real-world verification of the tech this fiscal year. Honda is not abandoning hydrogen fuel cells and still expects to develop vehicles in this area.
