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 eventually yr’s CES. The corporate stated on the time that the 0 Sequence automobiles represented a rebirth, or a recent begin for the corporate; a Honda 2.0, let’s say. Final week in Japan, I noticed that Honda intends extra than simply idea automobile fluff for the Saloon and House-Hub — it’s truly on observe to construct a minimum of one in all them. I spent hours with engineers, sat in spherical desk discussions, watched loads of demonstrations and was proven loads 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 method that’s solely new. I used to be informed that the 0 Sequence automobiles would ship a heretofore unknown kind of driving satisfaction. I used to be proven plenty of new ways in which these automobiles will work together with my telephone, and given time with Honda executives to ask questions. I noticed an terrible lot, and the automobile is attention-grabbing and in some ways, spectacular. However some elementary 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 will probably be a big EV station wagon, however that sells the precise form quick; it’s extra like a dustbuster or a sleeker, much less utilitarian transport shuttle from “Star Trek.” It ought to be stated that the cutaways we noticed featured an A-pillar that was extra upright than that of the idea. I’d anticipate one thing extra upright after we see the manufacturing automobile, which additionally matches with Honda’s acknowledged need to create a number of inside house whereas sustaining a low roofline. What doesn’t match with the inside house factor is that it has a transmission tunnel, regardless of having no transmission. We had been informed that the tunnel homes digital parts.
The philosophy that underpins this automobile, and Honda’s EVs going ahead, is “Skinny, mild and clever.” The structural battery pack isn’t big, comparatively talking. It’s solid out of aluminum, will include pouch cells and its shell might 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 through 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 power metal into the physique construction, which is able to make it lighter and thinner. The automaker additionally says the battery pack offers further crash safety within the occasion of a aspect affect, and that the entrance of the automobile is designed to redirect the vitality of impacts away from the passenger cell. In fact, the automobile will carry the usual driver-assist programs that you simply’d anticipate from a premium EV.
Aside from some intelligent particulars, what you see trying on the cutaway is kind of normal 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 certain that’s the case, however extra importantly it permits the entrance finish of the automobile 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 automobile’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 way of corners, and on a lefthand hairpin going uphill I might really feel the person wheels working to direct the automobile by way of the flip. For a CR-V it felt sporty, although not in a traditional sense. After sitting by way of 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 best way there in my quick time with the automobile. The rear would additionally unload dramatically over greater bumps in a means that reminded you that this was certainly a cobbled collectively prototype. General, I’d say the driving expertise was totally different sufficient to be attention-grabbing. I might see with some refinement how the system might ship a snug, pleasurable drive. Will probably be attention-grabbing to see how common drivers who haven’t had the total briefing understand it. Will it register to them in any respect? I ponder if the common EV purchaser thinks a lot about driving dynamics.
We received’t know extra about this automobile till January of 2025 at CES, and it appears there’s so much concerning the 0 Sequence that isn’t set in stone. Honda informed us that it is going to 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 last identify but. All that’s tremendous and in no way irregular, they’ll determine it out.
The automobile we noticed, at the moment generally known as “Saloon,” is scheduled to hit dealerships in 2026 and will probably be in-built Ohio. It’s clearly unimaginable to know what the marketplace for EVs will appear like by then, possibly the world will probably be prepared for a dear, wildly bold Honda EV in a yr and a half.
