Honda News: Honda's Upcoming Clarity EV Falls Short In Terms Of Range

[William Maley]

Honda will soon be entering the electric car arena with the introduction of the Clarity EV this spring. But as Automotive News has learned, the Clarity EV will have a big disadvantage right out of the gate.

The Clarity EV will only offer a range of 80 miles on a single charge. This puts it well behind nearly all of the electric vehicles on sale.

• 2017 Nissan Leaf: 107 mile range
• 2017 Ford Focus Electric: 115 mile range
• 2017 Hyundai Ioniq Electric: 124 mile range
• 2017 Volkswagen e-Golf - 125 mile range
• 2017 Chevrolet Bolt - 238 mile range

Why the limited range? Honda explained to Automotive News the decision came down two parameters that were non-negotiable: the size of the Clarity's platform - underpins a fuel cell and upcoming plug-in hybrid - and keeping the starting price around $35,000. With these two points, Honda's engineers were hamstrung from putting in a larger battery. Still, Honda is trying to put a positive spin on this, saying they believe they have found a sweet spot in the EV marketplace.

"A pillar of the Honda brand is affordability, and if Honda came out with some obscenely priced long-range electric car, what does that do for the brand? Most of our customers would not be able to acquire it," Steve Center, vice president of environmental business development at American Honda Motor.

"These people want a battery car and they know what they do and where they go. They're very rational and they don't need to lug around or charge up a 300-mile-range battery because that costs them electricity."

But how many of those people are out there? Studies within the past year or so have shown that while most people would be able to get away with an electric vehicle providing a range of under 100 miles, the fear of range anxiety rears its ugly head.  

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

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[G. David Felt]

Honda, FYI Pull your head out of the Glue Gun and stop sniffing some stupid Marketing spin. YOUR FULL OF BS!

People will not bother buying your EV as 80 miles is pathetic in todays age and you failed to pay attention to the market and what the competition was doing. Only badge snobby idiots will pay $35,000 for your EV when they can get a far superior EV at Chevy for less.

Saying this is needed for their fuel cell is a joke, Fuel Cells are more expensive and it takes more energy to fuel a fuel cell auto than a pure EV. Honda is on the wrong end of this one as I question GM on it also as I think we will not see the market move to hydrogen powered auto's.

Rock on BOLT! Rock On!  

[hyperv6]

Well Mercedes will have 72 EV cars over 80 miles by 2075. Just had to get that out before someone else had to post it,

I think this is telling of Honda and how far behind they are on the EV program. They had invest much into Fuel Cell but the infrastructure is just not there to support it. I think that is why they joined GM to help get more filling stations in place that both brands could use.

I have driven the Fuel Cell GM CUV and I can say it is not a joke. Infrastructure is a mess for Electric and even more so for the Fuel Cell. Until there is more demand of either and agreed systems no one wants to invest into these refueling as if they miss the chosen system they could stand to loose their investment in the private sector.

This is the old Chicken and the Egg deal one can not exist without the other but getting enough of one before the other will incur some risk if you chose wrong. 

The SAE needs to standardize the plugs on the EV cars now before we get a real mess out there. Imagine if everyone used a different size non standard nuts and bolts on our cars?

[ccap41]

26 minutes ago, hyperv6 said:

Well Mercedes will have 72 EV cars over 80 miles by 2075. Just had to get that out before someone else had to post it,

[G. David Felt]

J1772 is the SAE standard for Level 1 & 2 charging. It is the Rapid Fast Charging that is undergoing review and the SAE is planning on setting a standard for this summer 2017, I then expect to see a J1772-2017 updated SAE standard.

[smk4565]

What a joke.  If Honda was so focused on value they wouldn't price this thing like a 3-series.  An EV with an 80 mile range should be like $22,000, that would be value for the customer.  

These people with their 100 mile over priced, no power electrics are fools.  You have to build more power than gas for equal money to get people to buy it.

[hyperv6]

3 hours ago, dfelt said:

J1772 is the SAE standard for Level 1 & 2 charging. It is the Rapid Fast Charging that is undergoing review and the SAE is planning on setting a standard for this summer 2017, I then expect to see a J1772-2017 updated SAE standard.

That is the problem the standard is evolving yet at a time it needs to really zone in on one size fits all. 

There is already too many different ones out there and companies lobbying for their version.