Honda recently joined the club of automakers that plan to go fully electric in the near future. However, it seems to be the only one to have taken a more realistic and practical approach by claiming that its complete transition to all-electric vehicles will take place by 2040.
This announcement was made by its new CEO, Toshihiro Mibe, who added that this ultimatum has been put in place to gradually retire all Honda’s Internal Combustion Engines from its lineup over the next two decades.
Mibe has laid down a partial roadmap, according to which 40 percent of the company’s entire vehicle lineup, particularly in the North American market, is going to be electric by 2030. This percentage is expected to grow to 80 percent by 2035 and to 100 percent Electric Vehicles (EVs) and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles by 2040.
Mibe said that Honda will soon launch two new EVs that will be underpinned by General Motors (GM) Ultium platform. He added that both the vehicles will be crossover SUVs, with one sporting the Acura badge and the other a Honda badge.
Although Honda will initially borrow the EV platform from GM, it does have plans to develop its own EV platform called the ‘e:Architecture’. The CEO stated that these new models will hit the North American market first between 2025 and 2030.
Honda’s lineup currently consists of one EV and one Hydrogen Fuel Cell powered vehicle called ‘Honda e’ and ‘Honda Clarity’. Last year, it had displayed a Crossover EV prototype for the Chinese market. It is speculated that the new EVs will be based on the same prototype that was displayed in China.
