Tochigi, Japan. A space that is integral to the very core of Honda. Tochigi is where Honda made every original NSX, using specially trained workers and a manufacturing process more unique than Honda’s other cars to get the Ferrari-fighting mid-engined sports car on the road. It’s also a stone’s throw away from the Motegi Mobility Park, formerly known as Twin Ring Motegi if you grew up playing Gran Turismo; a Honda-made racetrack made to generate more interest in motorsport in Japan. Tochigi is hallowed ground for Honda, so it’s only natural that the brand would fly several global journalists there to evaluate the first results of its self-developed EV program: the Honda 0 Series.
This is a really big deal for Honda. The world’s cars are quickly electrifying, yet Honda has been slow to get its own EVs on the market. Until now, it’s relied on lease-only science experiments like the Fit EV or stopgaps like the GM-Ultium-based Honda Prologue to satisfy customer cravings for electric vehicles. Other swings, like the compact Honda E in Europe, also didn’t take off quite as expected.
This car, however, is a new frontier for the automaker. Honda showed off two radical concepts at this year’s CES, with plans to put them both in production in Japan and the United States. Honda’s already radically reconfigured its Ohio-based U.S. manufacturing operations to accommodate the electric-razor-styled EV sedan, and it’s staking a lot of the brand’s future on producing it, and future variants of Honda’s new self-developed EVs. High-range, efficient, lightweight, modern, and with no compromises; no more games, but a real EV that can take on the best.
Well, Is Honda’s new self-developed EV good? Did its investment in an all-new platform pay off? I went to Japan to find out for myself, but I’m not sure anyone knows the answer yet, including Honda.
(Full Disclosure: Honda invited me to Japan for its tech meeting week. It provided food and lodging.)
What Is It?
Honda has several EV programs going on at once. In Europe and China, there’s the E:N architecture that already has a few models on European and Chinese roads, like the Honda E: NY1. But that model will likely never come to North America. For the U.S., as well as Japan (and Europe, again), we’ll be getting the Honda 0 Series. This is a new model line based on a platform that Honda insists is as much hardware-oriented, as is the software itself.
Honda says its first model to enter production will be a production version of the 0 Series Saloon concept. And the Saloon, its sister future Acura crossover, and potentially the Sony/Honda Afeela sedan will all be built in Ohio to take advantage of tax credits.
Mechanically, the platform itself is a huge deal for Honda, although, if you’re an EV fan, Honda’s new technologies are kind of par for the course for any new EV project. Those include megacasting, steer-by-wire and structural battery packs. But I think Honda is trying to innovate its own twists on some of those concepts.
For example, the 0 Series's whole rear section of the chassis is mega cast for stiffness, but the front half intentionally doesn’t have a large integrated cross member spanning from side to side near the vehicle’s firewall. Honda is using chassis and body flex to the car’s advantage; the brand insists that a less stiff front end can apply more force to the front tires themselves, saving weight and improving handling.
Similarly, the battery case is cast in two pieces: one portion is common between all of the battery sizes, while the other can be swapped out for whatever battery size will be installed in the vehicle. The battery case’s cooling channels are wide yet short, and the whole battery itself is neatly integrated as part of the vehicle’s floor. Honda was adamant that the production version of the 0 Series Saloon would be a sedan (or, a Saloon, rather) and so it went to great lengths to ensure the car would be as low-slung, and sedan-like as possible. And Honda sees the production version of the 0 Series Saloon serving as its top-of-the-line flagship sedan model.
This all supports Honda’s ethos of “thin, light, and wise” for the models used on the 0 Series's platform. Of course, the 0 Series has a complicated electrical architecture that supports AI-powered infotainment and ADAS features. Honda says the 0 Series models will support LIDAR, and eventually offer Level 3 eyes-off, hands-off driving. It sees the 0 Series products as a whole software platform, offering over-the-air updates to improve the car and offer services to the owner well after purchase.
Driving the 0 Series
Honda had two very early prototypes on hand available for testing: one based on the CR-V, and the other based on the Accord. We were only permitted to drive one of the prototypes, but we were assured that aside from driving position both had the same all-wheel-drive dual motor layout and both used the same new 0 Series chassis altered to fit the existing Honda product bodies. The only mechanical feature these cars didn’t have installed was the steer-by-wire system.
I got 10 minutes, or about three laps, on Honda’s test circuit in Tochigi behind the wheel of its Accord-based prototype.
The prototype was wicked quick. Honda has only announced that it will essentially make two variants of its EV e-axle motor; one in 241 horsepower (180 kW), the other in 67 horsepower (50 kW) form. The prototype I drove used two of the larger motors at each end of the car; it made the Honda Prologue I drove earlier this year feel downright languid. On paper, this doesn’t sound like a hell of a lot of power compared to other high-powered EVs, but at least in practice, the prototype felt plenty swift. I’d place an unofficial 0-60 time somewhere in the four-second range; if the car is kept light, it won’t need oodles of power to be fast.
The prototype had the 0 Series's air suspension, and sure, it made this EV prototype ride feel more sophisticated than its completely unrelated ICE Accord counterpart, but it didn’t feel like a quantum leap over that vehicle. By in large, the 0 Series prototype I drove felt pretty similar to the ICE car it got its body from. I didn’t get Tesla Model 3 or Lucid Air driving dynamics, but it’s very clear that Honda isn’t done with development on the 0 Series chassis or powertrain. I reserve more in-depth judgment on the 0 Series for when I can drive a more complete car; this is so early in the development process that gleaning anything from it is tough.
I do admit that the alterations made to the Accord to house the 0 Series's running gear did make it look pretty dang good, though.
I Still Have Questions
Even after a flight to Japan, three laps on a track and four days of meetings and conversations with Honda engineers and executives, I am not sure what to think of Honda’s platform yet. It would be amazing to see this famously engineering-led firm find some way to match or even outclass some of the world-beating EVs from China’s new automakers that I’ve driven. But it’s too early to call it.
Sure, Honda should definitely be praised for quickly developing a chassis and smartly reconfiguring its manufacturing facilities to support EV production. Yet, automakers are quickly learning that a successful EV will go beyond just manufacturing all of the oily bits; they have to figure out how to create a tantalizing product that will hit hard on design, software, and its electro-mechanical guts. But, the features that would make the 0 Series Saloon a sink-or-swim product in the market, weren’t available for evaluation. I mean, at the very minimum we aren’t sure how close Honda will stay to the Concept 0 Series Saloon’s stunning one-box design. We aren’t even sure if Honda will keep this name for the production version, either. It feels like Honda has a lot of ideas of what the production 0 Series Saloon and other variants could be, but the final product is anyone’s guess. Plenty of other EV startups and traditional automakers alike have dazzled journalists and the public alike with fanciful tech demos, but talk is cheap. A proof-of-concept video is way different than a consumer product that real people can buy.
But, to be fair, Honda really does seem to be putting in the work to make its EV efforts a reality. Honda says its Ohio EV hub will be operational by next year. It plans on expanding its EV manufacturing facilities to Canada in 2026. If Honda can truly deliver on its promises, then it could have a compelling product in the EV space.
As long as the price is right.
Contact the author: kevin.williams@insideevs.com
Correction 10/8/24 at 12:38 p.m.: An earlier version of this article mistakenly referred to Honda's new EV as the Series 0. The correct name is the Honda 0 Series. We regret the error.
