Honda Charts Its EV Future With “0” Concepts

Honda unveiled a pair of electric concept cars at CES 2024 in Las Vegas that illustrate the company’s plans to move forward with its own electrification technology using LG Energy Solutions-supplied batteries after the current partnership to use General Motors’ Ultium EV components.

The Space-Hub minivan is like an open-floorplan mid-century modern home on wheels, while the Saloon is a flagship luxury sedan. Together, they point the way for Honda’s upcoming 0 Series production EVs that will debut in 2026.

Honda Space Hub concept. HONDA

Honda says that the zero is indicative of the cars’ position at the beginning of the company’s in-house EV product family, representing “a new approach to the development of electrified vehicles, outlined by three core principles: Thin, Light, and Wise.”

These characteristics are the opposite of most EVs, according to Honda. The Zero models will reflect these principles in key areas such as the use of a dedicated “thin” EV platform that creates a low floor for aerodynamic performance and software-defined mobility products for a “wiser” intelligent user experience, the company said.

Some of that promised wisdom will come from a new in-house Honda operating system and software that relies on artificial and driver data to provide information about the surrounding areas, offer additional route guidance for the “last mile” to the destination, and to help users after they arrive and leave their vehicle.

Honda Space Hub concept instrument panel. HONDA

A planned next-generation automated driving (AD) system will feature advanced AI, sensing, recognition, and driver monitoring technologies to achieve more human-like, natural and high-precision risk predictions, making it possible to offer AD features people can feel safe and confident using, Honda claims. This advanced AD system will expand the application of some hands-off functions for use on both expressways and surface streets.  

Additionally, Honda promises that the 0-Series will introduce advancements in performance and battery efficiency. Improved battery system control technology will reduce the degradation of the 0-Series EVs’ battery capacity to less than 10 percent after 10 years of use.

The cars’ e-axles will deliver high power and efficiency in a lightweight package, while Honda says it will rationalize battery size with a high-density battery pack that provides a suitable range with minimal battery size. That would be in keeping with Honda’s longstanding “man maximum/machine minimum” manta and the company’s one-time advertising slogan, “We make it simple.”

“We have gone back to basics and formulated the Honda 0 Series with a design for the new era,” said Shinji Aoyama, Global EVP of Honda. “A bold and pure proportion that from the first glance is overwhelmingly different from other EVs to evoke a new perspective for people.”