Simply when Honda’s restrained method to the EV rush of the early 2020s was kind of vindicated, the corporate confirmed a wild trying pair of EV ideas ultimately yr’s CES. The corporate mentioned on the time that the 0 Sequence automobiles represented a rebirth, or a contemporary begin for the corporate; a Honda 2.0, let’s say. Final week in Japan, I noticed that Honda intends extra than simply idea automotive fluff for the Saloon and Area-Hub — it’s really on observe to construct no less than one among them. I spent hours with engineers, sat in spherical desk discussions, watched quite a lot of demonstrations and was proven quite a lot of Powerpoint slides. I even drove a prototype for the 0 Sequence.
I noticed manufacturing methods which might be new to Honda, and one welding approach that’s completely new. I used to be advised that the 0 Sequence automobiles would ship a heretofore unknown sort of driving satisfaction. I used to be proven a variety of new ways in which these automobiles will work together with my cellphone, and given time with Honda executives to ask questions. I noticed an terrible lot, and the automotive is fascinating and in some ways, spectacular. However some basic questions, like “will these automobiles discover a market?” stay unanswered for now.
We noticed the Saloon idea up shut together with some engineering cutaways. It seems that in manufacturing type, the Saloon can be a big EV station wagon, however that sells the precise form brief; it’s extra like a dustbuster or a sleeker, much less utilitarian transport shuttle from “Star Trek.” It must be mentioned that the cutaways we noticed featured an A-pillar that was extra upright than that of the idea. I’d count on one thing extra upright after we see the manufacturing automotive, which additionally suits with Honda’s said need to create plenty of inside area whereas sustaining a low roofline. What doesn’t match with the inside area factor is that it has a transmission tunnel, regardless of having no transmission. We had been advised that the tunnel homes digital parts.
The philosophy that underpins this automotive, and Honda’s EVs going ahead, is “Skinny, mild and sensible.” The structural battery pack isn’t big, comparatively talking. It’s solid out of aluminum, will comprise pouch cells and its shell may be expandable for purposes that require extra pouches. On the underside aspect of the pack, a plate with cooling channels pressed into it’s hooked up by way of friction stir welding. Different producers construct cooling channels into the pack case itself, which makes them thicker than the one which Honda has developed right here. Honda goals for about 300 miles of vary, which it believes is sufficient to make the automobiles helpful for the common purchaser.
Honda invented a brand new welding course of to include extra excessive energy metal into the physique construction, which can make it lighter and thinner. The automaker additionally says the battery pack gives further crash safety within the occasion of a aspect affect, and that the entrance of the automotive is designed to redirect the power of impacts away from the passenger cell. After all, the automotive will carry the usual driver-assist methods that you just’d count on from a premium EV.
Other than some intelligent particulars, what you see trying on the cutaway is kind of commonplace EV fare, besides on the entrance the place issues get fairly bizarre. The strut towers angle inward from the wheels and there’s no actual construction tying them collectively from the highest. Honda says this protects weight, and I’m positive that’s the case, however extra importantly it permits the entrance finish of the automotive to flex. After years of listening to carmakers brag about rising structural rigidity, I’ve been confronted with one which flexes on the entrance. The automotive’s suspension will use that flex to press down on both wheel, exerting drive on the tire and supposedly bettering traction and the feeling of management. A steer-by-wire system will inform the steering, but additionally the suspension and brakes. They’ll all work along with sensors derived from Honda’s in depth robotics actions to ship a heretofore unknown sense of management, or man/machine oneness.
To expertise that, I drove a prototype that was a CR-V physique using on a 0 Sequence chassis. I had ten minutes in it consisting of three laps round a brief check observe. I’ll say that it felt totally different from different EVs. The prototype felt surprisingly flat by corners, and on a lefthand hairpin going uphill I might really feel the person wheels working to direct the automotive by the flip. For a CR-V it felt sporty, although not in a standard sense. After sitting by a protracted technical briefing about how the powertrain and suspension labored I used to be attempting my greatest to get a way for what it felt like in actual driving, however I don’t know that I obtained all the way in which there in my brief time with the automotive. The rear would additionally unload dramatically over larger bumps in a approach that reminded you that this was certainly a cobbled collectively prototype. General, I’d say the driving expertise was totally different sufficient to be fascinating. I might see with some refinement how the system might ship a cushty, pleasurable drive. Will probably be fascinating to see how common drivers who haven’t had the complete briefing understand it. Will it register to them in any respect? I’m wondering if the common EV purchaser thinks a lot about driving dynamics.
We gained’t know extra about this automotive till January of 2025 at CES, and it appears there’s so much concerning the 0 Sequence that isn’t set in stone. Honda advised us that it will likely be positioned as a premium product, and that it’ll carry a Honda badge within the U.S., however we don’t but have pricing or a remaining identify but. All that’s effective and under no circumstances irregular, they’ll determine it out.
The automotive we noticed, at the moment often known as “Saloon,” is scheduled to hit dealerships in 2026 and can be in-built Ohio. It’s clearly not possible to know what the marketplace for EVs will seem like by then, possibly the world can be prepared for an expensive, wildly formidable Honda EV in a yr and a half.
