As long as I’ve been casually aware of cars, which is about 20 years, Honda has always hated electric cars and had a hard on for hydrogen and hydrogen fuel cells.
I’m by no means a car guy but I thought hydrogen was more Toyota’s thing?
Tbh, all the Japanese makers tend to be really shy about electric and big on hydrogen for some reason that I’ve never quite got a handle on.
Does Japan have easier / better access to Hydrogen than other places? From what I understand the hydrogen cars are really cool but there’s a lot of logistical headache to store hydrogen as a fuel
Japan is smaller, has reasonable public transportation, so people there drive shorter distances and less frequently.
The big problem with hydrogen is getting fueling stations. Japan is probably the right size where hydrogen fuel stations can effectively serve the demand.
The big problem with batteries is they require much more critical material than other automotive energy storage. Japan is a small(ish) island nation. Getting those materials is expensive.
That’s my head cannon for it.
The other possibility I was wondering about is if Honda or Toyota envisioned themselves as becoming hydrogen suppliers, so that they’d be building their own vertical integration into the market.
Wtf am I supposed to replace my aging Odyssey with then. It’s perfect for PHEV most days it never goes more than a few miles and when I really drive it were don’t hundreds to thousands of miles.
I don’t like the Sienna, the pacifica is trash, the ID Buzz is a maybe but does not seem as practical, and KIAs still catch fire to often for me to trust.
They don’t want you to pick an electric drivetrain. It would mean you no longer are a constant customer for oil changes, brake pads, and any other regular ICE maintenance. They want you on a gas car for life because you will always be a constant revenue stream.
Sure, but for a number of customers (and increasing year over year), that’s not an option. I’m not choosing between an ICE Honda and all the other non-Honda. I’m choosing between an electric Honda or an electric non-Honda.
If they don’t want my money at all, then sure. But this is the sort of decision making that killed Sears and Blockbuster. Society is moving in a particular direction. They can keep up with the trends, or die.
I spend as much on maintenance for my Honda Clarity as I do on my Odyssey. I just want to be able to skip the gas station unless im doing a road trip, and I want regen breaking so I dont burn through pads and rotors all the time.
Car makers don’t care - the routine maintenance is profit for the dealers not the manufacturer. Besides you still have tire maintenance (you do rotate your tires, don’t you?), suspension system, and other maintenance.
Tire rotations and suspension and other drivetrain repairs are not common for an EV the way oil changes and brakes are. Tires yes but that’s it. You can’t drive any vehicle without tires.
Brakes are not very common for ICEs either in my experience. They do wear out, but not very often. This might be about driving style, I’m not a great driver (the only people who think they are - are liars), but I do my best to follow the experts recommendations which means I’m rarely using the brakes hard.
I used to work at an auto garage and brakes are most common regular maintenance (outside of filters, and oil changes). Many people go through brakes as fast as tires. Sometimes quicker. Depends on how cheap their pads are, their driving style, and weight of their vehicles.
You dont drive a minivan. I swap rotors more often than pads, because its a beast to slow down. Regen would actually really help reduce break ware for me.
break ware
brake wear?
I just replaced a minivan we had for 10 years and 200k miles. Replaced the brakes once in that time. YMMV, but at least for me.
Manufacturers absolutely make profit selling parts for maintenance. That’s why dealerships only use OEM parts.
Oil is not one of those parts though.
There is definitely OEM brands of oil
Good and bad news for me.
Good in that they’ll still make and sell parts for my 9th gen si for another 20 years, but I have no idea what to pivot to after I’ve installed the world’s last lower control arm bushing.
Eh, there’s always Toyota.
I’m American leftist, so I inherently lack faith in literally everything, so, maybe they’ll still be a viable company in the states in 30 years, maybe they’ll become Suzuki and only make four wheelers and golf carts. Time will tell.
Check out Aptera. They should start shipping vehicles next year.
Failing that, Rivian is a great EV brand if youu have the money.
I’m kind of excited about the Telos. I hope that has established itself and has a good reputation by the time I’m ready to replace my Kona.
Yes! I’ve been keeping an eye on them, too. They’re supposed to offer Aptera solar panel options for the MT1. I’m curious what kind of daily range they can get through solar alone. For me, the possibility of solar supported charging is the most exciting part of the next generation of EVs.
I’m drawn to the size. I like my little car but it’s always a challenge when doing home projects. Getting an EV that’s about the same footprint, fits us and the dogs but also lets me haul like a long bed pickup? Yes, please!
I don’t drive much or very far so even the entry level option would be good for me.
If true, then as the owner of an old reliable 2002 Honda CRV-PO, I am pretty disappointed. If their concept 0 cars don’t appeal to me, then the next purchase is probably a Rivian R2 or R3 in 2026 or 2027.
“Going out of business”“Leaving the EV business”
The point is that both those statements are the same thing.
If you’re hopeful.
I don’t see civilization making it to 100% EV adoption before western society collapses. America might still be buying and producing ICE cars in 30 years, or they might be producing nothing but dirt while the world leaves them behind.
With 100% as the target I agree. However I see America at somewhere around 90% EVs in the near future - hard to ignore how much cheaper charging at home is, and charging infrastructure is getting to where a road trip is not a big deal (it is still a deal - while you can make most trips often it means stopping where there is a charger just to be sure instead of stopping when the gauge gets to empty, but every year this changes a little)
For a few trips to remote areas the ability to put a few extra gas cans in the back and get a lot more range is important. For everything else though EVs are so much cheaper they will take over.
If Honda wants to make plane engines, generators and boat motors forever, I don’t see why they can’t scale back and do exactly that. ICE cars will go the way of the dodo, if we don’t all murder eachother first, but ICE will still exist in areas that there is no replacement.
