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Honda Content
CEO Takahiro Hachigo says there’s no future for EVs. Or maybe he didn’t. Comments
Hachigo made recently indicate he doesn’t see “a dramatic increase in demand for battery
vehicles.” Much of the confusion comes from analysis / commentary from other media outlets
reacting to a recent interview with Automotive News Europe. Hachigo appears, at worst, to be
honest in noting that demand sucks currently for fully electric vehicles. That honest appraisal
disheartens EV-enthusiast journalists who dislike an executive who isn’t a full-on cheerleader for
battery electric vehicles.
Tesla has shown there’s a market for pure EVs, not just hybrids, not just plug-in hybrids (PHEVs).
Classic Blue as a Trending Color in
Similarly, two decades ago, Toyota showed there’s a market for hybrids that went a mile or two on
2020
battery power, the rest of the time on gasoline (but still managed impressive mpg increases). Their
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dominant products sucked the oxygen out of the market for a decade or more.
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Q (ANE): Honda wants two-thirds of its global sales to come from electrified vehicles by
2030. What is your road to electrification when demand for hybrids and EVs is still
undeveloped?
A (Hachiago ): I believe hybrid vehicles will play a critical role. The objective is not
electrification, per se, but improving fuel efficiency. And we believe hybrid vehicles are the
way to abide by different environmental regulations.
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A: Are thereContent
really customers who truly want them? I’m not so sure because there are lots of
issues regarding infrastructure and hardware. I do not believe there will be a dramatic
increase in demand for battery vehicles, and I believe this situation is true globally. There are
different regulations in different countries, and we have to abide by them. So it’s a must to
continue R&D. But I don’t believe it will become mainstream anytime soon.
What we hear from Honda’s head guy is what you’d expect to hear from pragmatic automaker: a
Classic Blue as
straightforward a Trending
appraisal Color
of where in
the market is today. He did not, unlike other CEOs, complain
2020
that governments need to underwrite a big charging infrastructure first.
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What we hear from some of our fellow editors tracking EVs is disbelief that Honda hasn’t gotten
with the program. From Elektrek (https://electrek.co/2019/12/26/honda-ceo-says-no-dramatic-
increase-in-ev-demand/) (“Honda CEO says ‘There Will Be No Dramatic Increase EV demand’”):
/
The automotive industry is operating on two
completely separate alternative planes of
existence. Readers of this site are familiar with
the overwhelming evidence of EVs
approaching an inflection point, and the last
gasps of internal combustion. Let’s call that
reality. And then there’s Honda’s Takahiro
Hachigo, joined by executives from Toyota
(and others). In their alternative universe, the
inevitability of a pure-electric future is not
proven. Nobody wants them.
Honda EV Plus: first modern EV, 1997-99, 80-100 miles range,
300 built.
… Nearly four decades ago, Honda
introduced the first engine technology to meet US Clean Air Act standards without the need
for a catalytic converter. In 1999, the Honda Insight was the first hybrid. But that’s ancient
history. Today, the company remains fixated on 20-year-old technology rather than
innovating for the new electric age. … At the same time, Hachigo’s latest statements are
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entirely out of step with the times. The imperative of global climate change is too urgent for
minimal compliance and CES eye candy.
And from Jalopnik (“Ghostly Specter Of Honda’s CEO Still Not Convinced Electric Cars Are A
Thing”):
Classic Blue as a Trending Color in
2020
Here comes Honda CEO Takahiro Hachigo, rising from the dead to walk among us in the
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year 2019—a year in which Tesla has sold more than 255,000 cars [worldwide]—to inform us
he is still not sure about this whole electric car thing, revealing himself to be not a man but a
ghost of a bygone era.
Honda is also designing a modular electric car platform which they hope to have ready by
2025. Does that count as “anytime soon?” By automaker timelines, probably not, which
means there’s plenty of time for more CEOs to die and rise from the dead before Honda
completes its EV platform for a future it doesn’t think will happen.
/
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Honda sold 948 Clarity BEVs in 2018. That is a small number: one of every 1,500 Hondas sold, one
of every 18,000 cars sold (all brands) in 2018. Clarify is actually three vehicles: a fuel-cell car that
converts hydrogen to electricity, a BEV (the sub-1,000 sales), and a plug-in hybrid. Together they
accounted for 20,000 Clarity sales, but virtually all of them were PHEVs. Honda marketed the
Clarity BEV as a comfortable family car (think Accord with batteries instead of gasoline). But with
an EPA combined-driving range of 89 miles, it was a challenging car to sell. Honda will move into
2020 with the fuel cell and PHEV but not the Clarity EV.
/
Critics scoff at PHEVs as uninteresting for the long term, and they’re probably right. For. The. Long.
Term. But in the US with its greater driving distances than Europe, they make sense. You can drive
to and from work on electricity alone if you remember to recharge when you get home. And then
on weekends you go where you want, mostly on gasoline. Meanwhile, battery technology is
improving at about 20 percent a year, so four to five years from now, a 100-mile Clarity BEV could
be a 200-mile Clarity. (And, okay, a 250-mile Tesla could be a 500-mile Tesla.) So Honda could lay
low until 2025, rejoin the fray then, and not miss a lot of EV sales in the US. In Europe, the
company may face regulatory pressure to act sooner.
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Honda Accord Hybrid, 48 mpg city / 46 mpg highway, this from what measures as a full-size car.
/
Honda Insight third-generation compact hybrid, 48 mpg city / 46 mpg highway
Honda Clarity PHEV, BEV, hydrogen fuel cell through 2019.
Honda CR-V Hybrid, due early 2020, targeting Toyota RAV4.
While we live on the same planet and breathe the same air (more or less), Europe feels the shock
more when Russian or the Middle East countries restrict access to petroleum – the US can always
“drill, baby, drill” (per Sarah Palin – and Europe is also more concerned about clean air. The US’
concern about fuel consumption and clean air depends a lot on who’s in the White House come
2021. Currently the US supports aggressive petroleum-source development and extraction.
Now Read:
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2018 Honda Clarity Review: This Midsize Plug-In Hybrid Could Be Your Only Car
(https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/260223-2018-honda-clarity-review-midsize-plug-hybrid-
car)
2018 Honda Accord Review: Way Better, and Honda Even Fixed Display Audio
(https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/256694-2018-honda-accord-review-way-better-car-
honda-even-fixed-display-audio)
2019 Honda Insight Review: A Better-Looking, 50 MPG Civic
(https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/272064-2019-honda-insight-review-a-better-looking-50-
Classic Blue as a Trending Color in
mpg-civic)
2020
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1△ ▽ 1 • Reply • Share ›
One of the advantages of plug-in hybrids and pure electrics is that they make
the grid more efficient. Our electrical grid is built for absolute max capacity.
Meaning that we have to build out capacity to meet peak demand.
When Honda will reach 200K in sales of EV cars Tesla will already be at 2 million.
2△ ▽ 1 • Reply • Share ›
These days stockholders are willing to forgo the nice fat dividend check
at the end of the year as long as the price of the stock continues to rise.
I worked for Sprint for 10 years and they made billions in profits each
year. But they weren't gaining market share so they weren't growing.
Management just didn't understand this. Every year they would
"downsize" to be more competitive. They kept making profits, but it
resulted in a workforce that could no longer compete in the market. (I
survived 7 rounds of layoffs in 10 years, but not the 8th.)
These days profits aren't enough or even aren't required at all. It's all
about growth.
△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›
Try having an entire neighborhood charging their 100kw batteries in their cars at
the same time and see how long the lights stay on.
1△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›
Tho i also believe that the Honda CEO Takahiro Hachigo is correct, we are just not
ready for it, and i believe (plug-in) hybrid EV's are the short term solution, as you can
tune a generator to charge at peak efficiency getting much better mpg then a normal
engine, and lower emissions.
Imho is putting your head in the sand till its maybe to late, in my book at least not the
smarted solution.
And if we find out later that we ware over reacting, then at least we got less depended
on fossil fuels, and gotten a cleaner environment to live in.
1△ ▽ 1 • Reply • Share ›
We have just the one spaceship to travel through the universe in. We really should
spend some effort maintaining it.
1△ ▽ 1 • Reply • Share ›
somehow restricted to a Nokia mindset (they have cognitive capacity to compete with
Tesla, but are probably not thinking beyond Waymo or Uber).
At the same time the very thing that made German car industry produce technically
superior cars - the no speed limit highways - may turn into a cultural blocker to switch
to EVs (Tesla's battery drains very quickly when driven on German highways, so EVs
are of limited use in those conditions). If they don't overcome this limitation, then they
won't have much of an internal market for top class EVs and their tech advance may
stall.
1△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›
1. EV's are not going to replace or even impact significantly a planet with one billion plus
vehicles. It will be slow going and I don't expect significant impact for decades.
2. Battery technology which translates to range is progressing. A good ways to go. My wife
/
and I (both retired) could easily replace one car with an EV. We would "need" a gas car on the
order of 10 days every three months or more.
3. When you see the negatives from autonomous vehicle developments, the individuals ignore
the requirements which need to be met to insure security and safety. The infrastructure which
might make the transition move a bit quicker has to be in place when it is require and that
requires a congress that is functional.
4. Accept that development has requirements in line with aviation requirements. Before
sending out three liners, talk to someone who actually understands the development process (
no 737 comments needed).
△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›
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