Honda plans to launch new electric scooters and motorcycles by 2024
Honda has announced that it plans to launch three new electric scooters and motorcycles by 2024. The announcement was made by Honda Motor Co., Ltd. President and Representative Director, Toshihiro Mibe, during an inaugural press conference in Japan.
According to him, Honda will strive to lead the motorcycle industry at the forefront of its environmental initiatives with an approach which will include not only electrification but also the improvement of the fuel efficiency of gasoline engines, utilization of biofuels and other strategies.
Following is a summary of his formal remarks, provided by Honda News Europe:
The key to successful electrification of motorcycle products is to consider the battery, which is still expensive, separately from the motorcycle. In developed countries, where electrification is in strong demand by society, we will pursue electrification utilizing Mobile Power Pack, targeting our B-to-B (business-to-business) and B-to-G (business-to-national/local governments) customers.
For personal-use customers, we must not only enhance our product lineup but also make a large number of battery-swapping stations available and ensure convenience to users by making them compatible with EVs of other makers. To this end, Honda has established a consortium with other motorcycle OEMs in Japan and Europe, respectively, to develop technology standards for swappable batteries. Honda has a vision to expand Mobile Power Pack applications beyond motorcycles to power products and micro-mobility products. With this vision, we have begun demonstration testing in India using “rickshaw” type tricycle taxis.
To accommodate the diverse needs of our customers, in addition to introducing GYRO e: and GYRO CANOPY e: in the area of business-use bikes, scheduled for this year, we are going to introduce three new EV models in the area of personal use, in classes with engine sizes of below 50cc and below 125cc., by 2024. We also will introduce new products in the “FUN” area as well.
About Safety Initiatives, a summary follows:
Honda will strive for zero traffic collision fatalities involving Honda motorcycles and automobiles globally by 2050. The major challenge we will face as we work toward this goal is how to eliminate motorcycle collision fatalities, especially in emerging countries. As a company that has both motorcycle and automobile businesses, we will continue to strengthen our research on safety technologies that enable motorcycles and automobiles to safely coexist and lead the way in realizing a collision-free society from the standpoint of both hardware and software.
Since many motorcycle collision fatalities involve automobiles, we will strive to apply our omnidirectional ADAS (advanced driver-assistance system) to all new automobile models we introduce in developed countries by 2030.
By leveraging the knowledge and know-how we have amassed through research and development of our Level 3 automated driving technologies, we will further enhance the intelligence of ADAS, which increases the percentage of collision patterns covered by our ADAS.
Particularly in emerging countries, there are many collisions that can be prevented through traffic safety education activities and by approaching the issue from the perspective of infrastructure and government policies. Therefore, Honda will focus also on such areas including strengthening of educational programs and government/industry relations activities.