#2021 Honda Clarity Plug In Hybrid For Sale

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2021 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid Specs, Release Date

2021 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid Specs, Release Date

2021 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid Specs, Release Date – The specific 2021 Honda ClarityConnect-in Hybrid is truly a number of automobiles nearly all experiencing the very same manufacturer. If this looks to be hard, permit us to create crystal clear a Clarity’s goal. Despite the fact that a lot of Clarity sedans appear identical on the inside essentially and outdoors, it really is what energy…

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GM Will Build Honda EVs On Its Platform Using Cadillac and Hummer Batteries

General Motors and Honda have a new joint project beyond the development of fuel cells, the Cruise Origin (a six-passenger electric autonomous pod for ride sharing), and battery module work. The two automakers will this time be developing two new electric vehicles for Honda to go on sale for the 2024 model year in the U.S. and Canada. We don’t yet know what form the Honda EVs will take (the brand’s current Clarity EV, plug-in hybrid, and fuel-cell lineup is pictured above—well, most of it is, since the EV was just killed).

Honda will design the next-generation electric vehicles, both inside and out, but they will use GM’s new global EV platform to take advantage of the greater scale which reduces cost. That includes using the Ultium batteries that GM has developed for its own slew of electric vehicles planned including the Cadillac Celestiq flagship and GMC Hummer electric pickup (which we’ve rendered, below). GM has said the batteries will provide a range of 400 miles or more, with a fast charge that provides more than 100 miles in 10 minutes.

GM is also installing more capacity in plants to make electric vehicles and will build the new Honda EVs at one of its facilities in North America. One candidate is the Detroit-Hamtramck plant where GM is dropping a cool $2.2 billion to retool it to build its first new electric pickups there by the end of 2021. GM will engineer the Honda vehicles to the Japanese specs so they drive like you’d expect a Honda to.

“This collaboration will put together the strength of both companies, while combined scale and manufacturing efficiencies will ultimately provide greater value to customers,” said Rick Schostek, executive vice president of American Honda Motor Co., in a statement. The economies of scale will allow Honda to ramp up its electrification plans faster, he said.

And it might not end with the two vehicles planned. “We are in discussions with one another regarding the possibility of further extending our partnership,” Schostek said.

From the GM side, the agreement further builds on its partnership with Honda and validates GM’s Ultium batteries and new EV platform, said Doug Parks, executive vice president of Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain. “Importantly, it is another step on our journey to an all-electric future and delivering a profitable EV business through increased scale and capacity utilization. We have a terrific history of working closely with Honda, and this new collaboration builds on our relationship and like-minded objectives.”

Recently GM Mary Barra outlined some of the products and plans underway as GM amps up its focus on electric vehicles. Barra said the vehicles coming, from the compact Chevrolet Bolt to the Hummer and large Chevrolet SUVs, will be profitable.

Besides nabbing access to GM’s electric-car platform, Honda will also use GM’s OnStar services in the new EVs, integrating them with its own HondaLink connectivity system. Honda will also be allowed to use GM’s Super Cruise hands-free advanced driver-assist technology.

The post GM Will Build Honda EVs On Its Platform Using Cadillac and Hummer Batteries appeared first on MotorTrend.

https://www.motortrend.com/news/general-motors-honda-ev-platform-batteries/ visto antes em https://www.motortrend.com

[toldnews-blog]

New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/business/car-industry-whats-behind-recent-closures/

Car industry: What's behind recent closures?

Image copyright Getty Images

Honda UK is closing its Swindon plant by 2021, with the loss of about 3,500 jobs. Jaguar Land Rover and Nissan are also cutting production and jobs. So what’s going on?

Honda is a big loss

Honda’s Swindon plant is the UK’s fourth-largest car factory.

Honda Civic hatchbacks are made there. The model was the third most widely produced car in the UK in 2017, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

The Swindon plant was established in 1985. But in recent years, it has operated at less than full capacity, citing falling demand from Europe. That caused Honda to suspend a production line with a capacity of 100,000 units in 2014.

Brexit uncertainty

Japanese car producers, including Nissan, have said that Brexit uncertainty is not helping them “plan for the future”. Nissan recently opted to build the next X-Trail model in Japan, rather than in Sunderland.

But, Honda said that the plant closure in Swindon wasn’t related to the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. It said that restructuring would bring it closer to key markets such as China or the US.

In a statement, Business Secretary Greg Clark echoed that it was “a commercial decision” for the company.

Manufacturing companies rely on complex supply chains across Europe, allowing them to trade parts and produce cars “just in time” for deliveries.

Industry figures have suggested that any additional tariffs placed on car exports after Brexit could negatively affect business. A tariff is a tax paid on goods crossing borders.

They have also called for clarity for EU automotive workers in the UK. The SMMT estimates that 10% of people employed in the car industry are from elsewhere in the EU.

Back to Japan

Another thing affecting car manufacturers is a new trade deal between the EU and Japan that came into force in February. It will see tariffs on cars exported from Japan to Europe reduced to zero over the next 10 years.

In a recent report, consulting firm LMC Automotive estimated that more than 730,000 cars built in the UK in 2018 were for Nissan, Toyota and Honda – nearly half of all light vehicles produced.

That could encourage Japanese companies, such as Honda, to redirect jobs and investment back home, leaving UK car manufacturing at risk.

The director of global production forecast at LMC also said that if the UK were to leave the EU without a deal, cars made in Japan could, under the new EU-Japan trade deal, end up costing less to import into the EU than those produced in the UK.

Falling Chinese demand

Indian-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) confirmed in January that it would be cutting 4,500 jobs, with most coming from its UK workforce.

It said that it was facing a different challenge in the Asian market: a sales slowdown in China.

Passenger vehicle wholesales fell by 17.7% year-on-year to 2.02 million units, according to the latest figures from China’s Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

For 2018 as a whole, sales dropped by 4.1% – the first annual decrease since the early 1990s.

Analysts have said US-China trade tensions could also make 2019 a challenging year for car companies.

The two countries have been locked in an escalating trade war, imposing duties on billions of dollars worth of one another’s goods.

Shift away from diesel

In 2018, sales of new diesel cars in the UK fell by nearly 30%, according to the SMMT.

The government had previously introduced tax breaks on diesel cars, when Gordon Brown was chancellor, but sales have been falling since 2016.

Prof David Bailey, from Aston University, in Birmingham, said that fewer diesel cars were being purchased for two main reasons: the environment and consumer confusion.

The Volkswagen “diesel-gate” scandal showed that many diesel cars were producing higher levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx) on the road than in laboratory tests. Nitrogen oxides are associated with breathing difficulties.

Diesel cars typically produce less CO2 than petrol vehicles. But with an increased focus on air quality in urban areas and on NOx as a contributor to pollution in cities, diesel is facing a backlash.

In the UK, diesel cars that fail to meet the latest emissions standards now face an extra charge, while a number of European countries, including the UK, have announced bans on both new diesel and petrol vehicles in the future.

With doubts over the resale value of diesel cars, taxation and where they might be able to be driven, Prof Bailey added, consumer confusion had dragged on sales.

Electric revolution?

Honda said the decision to close its Swindon manufacturing plant was down to changes in the car industry and the need to launch electric and hybrid vehicles.

The global stock of electric cars rose to more than three million in 2017, up from 14,260 in 2010, according to the International Energy Agency.

Jim Holder, editorial director of What Car? magazine, told BBC News the UK played a “relatively small part” in their production.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionA quick history of the British car industry, by economist Dan Coffey

JLR builds the hybrid Range Rover at its factory in Solihull, West Midlands, while Toyota produces hybrid versions of the Corolla at its plant in Burnaston, Derbyshire.

Nissan manufactures the Leaf electric car at its plant in Sunderland. It was the best selling electric vehicle in Europe in 2018, with 40,000 made in Sunderland and sold across the continent.

But, relatively low sales of the vehicles in the UK, the fall in the value of the pound and cuts to government grants for buyers could make manufacturers build electric cars elsewhere, Mr Holder said.

China is generally seen as the world leader in electric vehicle production, as well as the largest market for cars.

The Chinese government has encouraged production. And rules introduced in 2019 banned setting up companies that make only combustion-engine cars.

The new guidelines also mean major manufacturers could be punished for failing to meet quotas for zero-emission and low-emission cars.

In September 2018, Prime Minister Theresa May pledged £106m for research and development in zero-emission vehicles, new batteries and low-carbon technology.

But consumer take-up of plug-in cars is now falling behind the EU average, according to the latest figures from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.

The government has said it wants to make the UK “the best place in the world” to own an electric vehicle.

However, in 2018, it ended grants for new plug-in hybrids and the subsidy for purely electric cars was reduced from £4,500 to £3,500.

In a recent report, Parliament’s Business Select Committee criticised the decision to remove subsidies for less polluting cars, as well as the lack of charging points in the UK.

And with relatively high purchase costs and many unknown factors surrounding the UK’s charging infrastructure, motorists may need more persuasion to make the switch.

[savetopnow]

2018-04-05 20 CAR now

CAR

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[componentplanet]

GM Unveils New Lithium-Ion Battery Tech, Vows 400-Mile Cars

General Motors reveals its all-new modular platform and battery system, Ultium, Wednesday, March 4, 2020 at the Design Dome on the GM Tech Center campus in Warren, Michigan. (Photo by Steve Fecht for General Motors)r

General Motors is going electric in a big way. This week the company announced plans for a new battery technology called Ultium that will have more range than Tesla and be used in a broad array of future EVs including an upcoming Cadillac luxury SUV and flagship sedan. GM says the technology uses less hard-to-get, hard-on-miners cobalt, and cell costs should fall below the $100-per-kilowatt-hour level that starts to make EVs more competitive than gasoline-engine cars.

The batteries will be built as rectangular pouches rather than cylindrical cells – more space-efficient – that can be stacked horizontally and vertically. GM promises 19 battery and drive unit configurations initially for affordable cars, luxury cars, SUVs and pickups. GM and partner LG Chem are scheduled to break ground in the next three months on a $2 billion plant in Lordstown, Ohio, that could create more than 1,100 jobs. Sorry, make that “good-paying jobs,” since this is an election year.

General Motors chairman / CEO Mary Barra at the Ultium rollout Wednesday in Michigan at GM’s Design Dome.

GM is spending this week briefing analysts, media, employees, and partners at its Warren, Michigan, Design Dome on its Empire Strikes Back strategy. Since fall, relative-newcomer Tesla tripled in value and is worth more than GM and Ford combined as analysts see Tesla being the best pure-play for people who want to get in on EVs as an investment. “GM is building toward an all-electric future because we believe climate change is real,” said chairman and CEO Marry Barra Wednesday. She pegged GM’s EV investment at $3 billion annually.

One attention-grabber is GM’s claim that its new battery technology will provide a range of 400 miles or more per charge, slightly topping the 390 miles Tesla claims for the Tesla Model S Long Range sedan. (Tesla, for its part, plans to lay out its future EV and battery plans within the next month or so.) GM didn’t go into detail on what size battery pack would accomplish the feat, although you’d obviously need larger packs for larger cars.

Working with LG Chem, GM’s new battery technology uses rectangular pouch cells rather than cylindrical cells. Battery modules will be built in Lordstown, Ohio.

The new battery technology will have configurations from 50 kWh to 200 kWh for cars and SUVs. Performance vehicles will achieve 0-60 mph acceleration of as little as 3 seconds. GM says most will have 400-volt battery packs, and support for Level 2 charging (possible at home with 220 volts) and DC fast charging at up to 200 kW. The truck platform would have 800-volt battery packs and 350 kW fast-charge capability. This would include commercial vehicles.

For both cars and trucks, the pouch cells will allow for even higher energy density and lower centers of gravity. The ability to stacks cells horizontally or vertically is unique in the industry. GM also says battery management is built-in and – compared with the current Chevrolet Bolt – reduces battery pack wiring 80 percent.

GM says the new cells will have “the highest nickel and lowest cobalt content in a large format pouch cell.” It also says its researchers are working to eliminate cobalt as one of the battery components. Currently, cobalt is tough to mine, comes from countries that are not always friendly to the US, and working conditions are said to be unsafe, although there’s considerable discussion about whether that’s because of inherent dangers or because the mining companies don’t treat workers well.

GM’s new battery technology will be called Ultium.

GM plans an extensive rollout of new electric vehicles starting this year. According to GM:

Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and Buick will all be launching new EVs starting this year. The next new Chevrolet EV will be a new version of the Bolt EV, launching in late 2020, followed by the 2022 Bolt EUV, launching Summer 2021. The Bolt EUV will be the first vehicle outside of the Cadillac brand to feature Super Cruise, the industry’s first true hands-free driving technology for the highway, which GM will expand to 22 vehicles by 2023, including 10 by next year.

The self-driving, shared EV called the Cruise Origin was shown in concept form in January in San Francisco. Next up to be announced is the Cadillac Lyriq in April. The GMC Hummer EV will be introduced May 20 with production due to begin in fall 2020 at GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck plant, the company’s first plant just for EVs.

GM is staking its massive investment on a big uptick in demand for EVs – whether voluntary, helped by tax incentives, or mandated because of concerns about climate change. GM says:

Third-party forecasters expect U.S. EV volumes to more than double from 2025 to 2030 to about 3 million units on average. GM believes volumes could be materially higher as more EVs are launched in popular segments, charging networks grow and the total cost of ownership to consumers continues to fall.

GM revealed an all-new modular architecture and Ultium batteries at the GM Design Dome in Michigan.

GM is right to be optimistic since there’s pretty much nowhere to go but up for the EV industry. The market last year for electric vehicles was 330,000 in the US out of 17.0 million light vehicles sold, 1.9 percent, and those 48 vehicles include both pure EVs and plug-in hybrids that go 15 to 50 miles on battery before the combustion engine kicks in (but not hybrids like the Toyota Prius).

Pure EVs, 18 models total, accounted for 245,000 sales, or 1.4 percent of the US market. But when Tesla Model 3, Model X, and Model S got done feasting on the market – with no tax credits to offer anymore – what’s left amounted to barely 50,000 sales. Just six pure-EV models managed more than 5,000 sales last year:

Tesla Model 3, 158,925

Tesla Model X, 19,225

Chevrolet Bolt EV, 16,148

Tesla Model S, 14,100

Nissan Leaf, 12,365

Audi e-tron, 5,369

GM had two other electrified vehicles on sale in 2019, the end-of-life Chevrolet Volt PHEV with 4,910 sales and the Cadillac CT6 PHEV with 24 sales. The year before Chevy killed the Volt PHEV, it actually had slightly more sales than the Bolt EV, but demand for plug-ins continues to be soft. Last year the Toyota Prius Prime was the second-best-selling electrified vehicle with 23,630 sales, but the only PHEV with more than 10,000 sales was the Honda Clarity, at 10,728. BMW has the most electrified vehicles, six, with five of them PHEVs.

History has shown that first-to-market status doesn’t always guarantee long-term dominance. Facebook was not the first social media platform. Remember Myspace? In other words, Tesla absolutely dominates the market for EVs today, but this is a long race, not a sprint.

Now read:

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from ExtremeTechExtremeTech https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/307027-gm-unveils-new-lithium-ion-battery-tech-vows-400-mile-cars from Blogger http://componentplanet.blogspot.com/2020/03/gm-unveils-new-lithium-ion-battery-tech.html

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Car industry: What's behind recent closures?

Honda UK is closing its Swindon plant by 2021, with the loss of about 3,500 jobs. Jaguar Land Rover and Nissan are also cutting production and jobs. So what's going on?

Honda's Swindon plant is the UK's fourth-largest car factory. Honda Civic hatchbacks are made there. The model was the third most widely produced car in the UK in 2017, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

The Swindon plant was established in 1985. But in recent years, it has operated at less than full capacity, citing falling demand from Europe. That caused Honda to suspend a production line with a capacity of 100,000 units in 2014.

Brexit uncertainty Japanese car producers, including Nissan, have said that Brexit uncertainty is not helping them "plan for the future". Nissan recently opted to build the next X-Trail model in Japan, rather than in Sunderland.

But, Honda said that the plant closure in Swindon wasn't related to the UK's decision to leave the European Union. It said that restructuring would bring it closer to key markets such as China or the US.

In a statement, Business Secretary Greg Clark echoed that it was "a commercial decision" for the company.

Manufacturing companies rely on complex supply chains across Europe, allowing them to trade parts and produce cars "just in time" for deliveries.

Industry figures have suggested that any additional tariffs placed on car exports after Brexit could negatively affect business. A tariff is a tax paid on goods crossing borders.

They have also called for clarity for EU automotive workers in the UK. The SMMT estimates that 10% of people employed in the car industry are from elsewhere in the EU.

Back to Japan Another thing affecting car manufacturers is a new trade deal between the EU and Japan that came into force in February. It will see tariffs on cars exported from Japan to Europe reduced to zero over the next 10 years.

In a recent report, consulting firm LMC Automotive estimated that more than 730,000 cars built in the UK in 2018 were for Nissan, Toyota and Honda - nearly half of all light vehicles produced.

That could encourage Japanese companies, such as Honda, to redirect jobs and investment back home, leaving UK car manufacturing at risk.

The director of global production forecast at LMC also said that if the UK were to leave the EU without a deal, cars made in Japan could, under the new EU-Japan trade deal, end up costing less to import into the EU than those produced in the UK.

Falling Chinese demand Indian-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) confirmed in January that it would be cutting 4,500 jobs, with most coming from its UK workforce.

It said that it was facing a different challenge in the Asian market: a sales slowdown in China.

Passenger vehicle wholesales fell by 17.7% year-on-year to 2.02 million units, according to the latest figures from China's Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

For 2018 as a whole, sales dropped by 4.1% - the first annual decrease since the early 1990s.

Analysts have said US-China trade tensions could also make 2019 a challenging year for car companies.

The two countries have been locked in an escalating trade war, imposing duties on billions of dollars worth of one another's goods.

Shift away from diesel In 2018, sales of new diesel cars in the UK fell by nearly 30%, according to the SMMT.

The government had previously introduced tax breaks on diesel cars, when Gordon Brown was chancellor, but sales have been falling since 2016.

Prof David Bailey, from Aston University, in Birmingham, said that fewer diesel cars were being purchased for two main reasons: the environment and consumer confusion.

The Volkswagen "diesel-gate" scandal showed that many diesel cars were producing higher levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx) on the road than in laboratory tests. Nitrogen oxides are associated with breathing difficulties.

Diesel cars typically produce less CO2 than petrol vehicles. But with an increased focus on air quality in urban areas and on NOx as a contributor to pollution in cities, diesel is facing a backlash.

In the UK, diesel cars that fail to meet the latest emissions standards now face an extra charge, while a number of European countries, including the UK, have announced bans on both new diesel and petrol vehicles in the future.

With doubts over the resale value of diesel cars, taxation and where they might be able to be driven, Prof Bailey added, consumer confusion had dragged on sales.

Electric revolution? Honda said the decision to close its Swindon manufacturing plant was down to changes in the car industry and the need to launch electric and hybrid vehicles.

The global stock of electric cars rose to more than three million in 2017, up from 14,260 in 2010, according to the International Energy Agency.

Jim Holder, editorial director of What Car? magazine, told BBC News the UK played a "relatively small part" in their production.

Media captionA quick history of the British car industry, by economist Dan Coffey JLR builds the hybrid Range Rover at its factory in Solihull, West Midlands, while Toyota produces hybrid versions of the Corolla at its plant in Burnaston, Derbyshire.

Nissan manufactures the Leaf electric car at its plant in Sunderland. It was the best selling electric vehicle in Europe in 2018, with 40,000 made in Sunderland and sold across the continent.

But, relatively low sales of the vehicles in the UK, the fall in the value of the pound and cuts to government grants for buyers could make manufacturers build electric cars elsewhere, Mr Holder said.

China is generally seen as the world leader in electric vehicle production, as well as the largest market for cars.

The Chinese government has encouraged production. And rules introduced in 2019 banned setting up companies that make only combustion-engine cars.

The new guidelines also mean major manufacturers could be punished for failing to meet quotas for zero-emission and low-emission cars.

In September 2018, Prime Minister Theresa May pledged £106m for research and development in zero-emission vehicles, new batteries and low-carbon technology.

But consumer take-up of plug-in cars is now falling behind the EU average, according to the latest figures from the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association.

The government has said it wants to make the UK "the best place in the world" to own an electric vehicle.

However, in 2018, it ended grants for new plug-in hybrids and the subsidy for purely electric cars was reduced from £4,500 to £3,500.

In a recent report, the chair of Parliament's Business Select Committee Rachel Reeves criticised the decision to remove subsidies for less polluting cars, as well as the lack of charging points in the UK.

And with relatively high purchase costs and many unknown factors surrounding the UK's charging infrastructure, motorists may need more persuasion to make the switch.

[Font: BBC]

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2021 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid Changes, Features, Interior

2021 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid Changes, Features, Interior

2021 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid Changes, Features, Interior – 2021 Honda Clarity Plug-Inhad been, undoubtedly, the milestone inside the motor vehicle market place spot place. It really is was the very first hydrogen gasoline cellular vehicle swiftly open to the skilled providing. For many who desire hybrid time period automobiles, fresh Clarity might be an ideal collection. Ornamented utilizing…

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2021 Honda Clarity Plug In Release Date, Price, Redesign

2021 Honda Clarity Plug In Release Date, Price, Redesign

2021 Honda Clarity Plug-In Release Date, Price, Redesign – Honda exposed all of the innovative Honda Clarity Connect-in Hybrid basically some of the yrs again once again. Back then, furthermore, they revealed these people were actually in fact more likely to relieve a number of several variations in the vehicle. A single particular of these could possibly be the 2021 Honda Clarityconnect-in…

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2021 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid Specs, Concept, Release Date, Price

2021 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid Specs, Concept, Release Date, Price

2021 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid Specs, Concept, Release Date, Price – The last deviation to get all of the palms for your needs could very well find yourself this Clarity while using the this largest attention an energy-electrical operated deal with attaching inside hybrid, and that is certainly unquestionably definitely offered as well as rented during the entire house. Boasting the perfect…

[perksofwifi]

GM Will Build Honda EVs On Its Platform Using Cadillac and Hummer Batteries

General Motors and Honda have a new joint project beyond the development of fuel cells, the Cruise Origin (a six-passenger electric autonomous pod for ride sharing), and battery module work. The two automakers will this time be developing two new electric vehicles for Honda to go on sale for the 2024 model year in the U.S. and Canada. We don’t yet know what form the Honda EVs will take (the brand’s current Clarity EV, plug-in hybrid, and fuel-cell lineup is pictured above—well, most of it is, since the EV was just killed).

Honda will design the next-generation electric vehicles, both inside and out, but they will use GM’s new global EV platform to take advantage of the greater scale which reduces cost. That includes using the Ultium batteries that GM has developed for its own slew of electric vehicles planned including the Cadillac Celestiq flagship and GMC Hummer electric pickup (which we’ve rendered, below). GM has said the batteries will provide a range of 400 miles or more, with a fast charge that provides more than 100 miles in 10 minutes.

GM is also installing more capacity in plants to make electric vehicles and will build the new Honda EVs at one of its facilities in North America. One candidate is the Detroit-Hamtramck plant where GM is dropping a cool $2.2 billion to retool it to build its first new electric pickups there by the end of 2021. GM will engineer the Honda vehicles to the Japanese specs so they drive like you’d expect a Honda to.

“This collaboration will put together the strength of both companies, while combined scale and manufacturing efficiencies will ultimately provide greater value to customers,” said Rick Schostek, executive vice president of American Honda Motor Co., in a statement. The economies of scale will allow Honda to ramp up its electrification plans faster, he said.

And it might not end with the two vehicles planned. “We are in discussions with one another regarding the possibility of further extending our partnership,” Schostek said.

From the GM side, the agreement further builds on its partnership with Honda and validates GM’s Ultium batteries and new EV platform, said Doug Parks, executive vice president of Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain. “Importantly, it is another step on our journey to an all-electric future and delivering a profitable EV business through increased scale and capacity utilization. We have a terrific history of working closely with Honda, and this new collaboration builds on our relationship and like-minded objectives.”

Recently GM Mary Barra outlined some of the products and plans underway as GM amps up its focus on electric vehicles. Barra said the vehicles coming, from the compact Chevrolet Bolt to the Hummer and large Chevrolet SUVs, will be profitable.

Besides nabbing access to GM’s electric-car platform, Honda will also use GM’s OnStar services in the new EVs, integrating them with its own HondaLink connectivity system. Honda will also be allowed to use GM’s Super Cruise hands-free advanced driver-assist technology.

The post GM Will Build Honda EVs On Its Platform Using Cadillac and Hummer Batteries appeared first on MotorTrend.

https://www.motortrend.com/news/general-motors-honda-ev-platform-batteries/ visto antes em https://www.motortrend.com

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[componentplanet]

Did Honda’s CEO Say EVs Make No Sense? Not Exactly

2018 Clarity Electric

Honda 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). Similarly, two decades ago, Toyota showed there’s a market for hybrids that went a mile or two on battery power, the rest of the time on gasoline (but still managed impressive mpg increases). Their dominant products sucked the oxygen out of the market for a decade or more.

What Honda CEO Hachiago Really Said

Here’s the key points from an interview of Hachigo with Automotive News Europe editors Jamie Butters and Hans Greimel, through a translator:

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.

Q: What about full-electric vehicles?

A: Are there 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 straightforward appraisal of where the market is today. He did not, unlike other CEOs, complain that governments need to underwrite a big charging infrastructure first.

What we hear from some of our fellow editors tracking EVs is disbelief that Honda hasn’t gotten with the program. From Elektrek (“Honda CEO says ‘There Will Be No Dramatic Increase EV demand’”):

Honda EV Plus: first modern EV, 1997-99, 80-100 miles range, 300 built.

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.

…  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 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”):

Here comes Honda CEO Takahiro Hachigo, rising from the dead to walk among us in the 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.

  One company dominated hybrid sales 20 years ago: Toyota. Now Tesla is doing the same with EVs. Four-fifths of EVs sold in the US are Teslas. After that, only Chevy, Nissan and BMW sell more than 5,000 EVs year. (Source: Statista)

The EV Market Is Good (For Tesla)

Automakers have lots of rules to follow: crash protection, safety equipment, emissions. Also they have to make money for shareholders. And stay in business. Right now, Tesla dominates battery-electric vehicle sales, controlling 80 percent (182,000) of the 228,000 pure EVs sold in 2018 in the US, which is 1.0 percent of all US sales. What’s left is table scraps. Chevy has 8 percent of the EV market (0.1 perecent of all vehicles sold), Nissan 6 percent of EVs (0.1  percent of all sales). For everybody else, it rounds to 0.0 percent unless you go to two decimal places.

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.

The Honda E is part of a new architecture coming within five years.

Honda’s Roadmap for Electrification

Honda e, due in 2021 in Europe – Honda’s first minicar since 2001.

Honda will bring to bring to market an electric city car in 2020 called the Honda E, in the spring of 2020. At 157 inches, it’s smallish for the US market. Over the summer Honda told investors and media it’s developing a dedicated EV platform for midsize and large sedans and SUVs. The first vehicles will come to market in 2025. It’s this timeframe that has some media critics upset with Honda.

Right now in the US Honda has these alternative vehicles:

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.

Honda appears to be intercepting the glidepath toward higher-efficiency, zero-tailpipe-pollution vehicles. Europe especially is pushing automakers toward cleaner, higher-efficiency vehicles. Honda will begin selling the retro-look Honda e next year in Europe, with a goal of at least 10,000 units a year, possibly more. The Honda e, a minicar, will allow Honda to meet EU CO2 targets in 2020 and 2021 without paying fines.

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:

2018 Honda Clarity Review: This Midsize Plug-In Hybrid Could Be Your Only Car

2018 Honda Accord Review: Way Better, and Honda Even Fixed Display Audio

2019 Honda Insight Review: A Better-Looking, 50 MPG Civic

  from ExtremeTechExtremeTech https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/303907-did-hondas-ceo-say-evs-make-no-sense-not-exactly from Blogger http://componentplanet.blogspot.com/2019/12/did-hondas-ceo-say-evs-make-no-sense.html