Honda wants to have all of its vehicle sales be EVs starting in 2040.
Until then, hybrid and gasoline-powered models will continue to be sold in some markets.
Hydrogen fuel cells could also be used in vehicles and backup power solutions.
Honda has been slow to adopt electrification, but the company wants to accelerate its process to reach carbon neutrality in other ways.
The automaker will launch its first two electric vehicles in North America next year with the Honda Prologue and Acura ZDX which will be built by General Motors.
Following these models, In-house Honda EVs should arrive on the market in 2026 or 2027 and combined with hybrid vehicles, the company hopes they will account for 40% of its sales by 2030.
In order to support its transition to electric power and provide more convenient charging solutions for its customers, Honda is reportedly looking into a plan to build its own charging network, similar to Tesla.
To oversee all of its electrification efforts without taking too many resources away from its other operations, Honda will set up a standalone business unit in about a month.
Like Toyota and BMW, Honda also believes that hydrogen will play a key part in the industry’s shift to sustainability.
That is why the company is planning a hydrogen-powered SUV based on the CR-V which will be launched as soon as next year.
Since hydrogen is held back by a lack of infrastructure, Fuel-Cell EVs are only viable in certain areas where filling stations are present, such as parts of California.
To promote hydrogen as a sustainable energy source in areas where filling up a vehicle is more difficult, Honda has developed a stationary hydrogen power station that can replace traditional diesel generators in commercial applications.
The first demonstration unit has been installed at the automaker’s own corporate campus in Torrance California where it uses cells from decommissioned Clarity models to provide backup power to the premises’ data center.
In the coming years, Honda says it will install similar units in most of its factories and data centers around the world in order to reduce its carbon emissions and thus achieve its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
Other measures Honda will take to accelerate its sustainability efforts include a $3.5 billion joint venture with LG Solutions to build batteries in Ohio, and research in low-carbon e-fuels which could be used to keep internal combustion engines relevant in some applications for a few more decades.
Source: Reuters and Honda
