Honda designers in Japan were bold. They launched a compact City Car with a small battery, and hence limited range, while the European majors were developing larger, and perhaps more premium EVs. Perhaps well aware that the competitor to try and rival was Tesla. And now we see the market saturated with “me too” SUVs models aimed at the 2+2 family, and yet no-one gets anywhere near the performance v. efficiency of Teslas. It is no coincidence that sales of EVs consistently show that Elon Musk is on the money, and prices are now very competitive.
5 years on, and more than 4 years since I paid my £800 reservation fee, I’m looking back at those early days. Do I regret taking the plunge to Full Electric? No. I fell in love with the ‘“e” and had to have one. Definitely a Heart over Head decision.
Yes, for me it was a bold and expensive decision. At the time I was driving a very compact Toyota iQ which although small and quirky, it met my needs. I just wanted an electric one, that was not to be. Its small 1.3 4-cylinder petrol engine could push it along quite nicely, because it was relatively light and responsive.
So onto to the topics of my title.
Performance
Does the Honda e have enough power and torque to make it fun to drive?
Did my assumption that 150bhp would be enough, given that the All Up Weight is a little greater than some its converted ICE rivals, prove to be correct?
Yes, I think so. It is certainly “quick enough” off the mark at the lights, and seems to respond nicely, if I decide to overtake someone travelling at 40-50 mph. Does it run out of steam at higher speeds, yes a little, but on dual carriageways/Motorways that is of less concern. Does it still make me smile when approaching a steep incline, which it climbs with little to no effort. Yes, it does. So yes, in general the performance is better than I had hoped, and certainly ‘adequate’ to keep me happy.
Range
So this is the Big One. Remember all those reviews. It was just a City Car. Not designed for long distance journeys. For that you need a Tesla. And if you live in the USA, or planing a tour of Europe, a Honda e is not going to be for you. As I said earlier, Honda were bold to choose a small 35kWh battery for the ‘e’. Mazda tried to sell a model with a small battery and gave up. And I despair of amount I have read about 200 mile being a minimium and how we will see EVs with 600 to 1000 mile range. As you will know there are only 2 factors that determine the range you need. Can you recharge easily at home or work, and how far do you normally drive every day. For me my daily use can be 25-40 miles, sometimes less, and on a longer day out perhaps 60+ The number of times that I have had to travel up to, or over 100 miles has been very rarely. Perhaps 8 times in over 3 years. And this is much the same for the number of times my SoC has dropped below 15% and I have seen a warning light on the dash.
So range is clearly not an issue for me. In fact it is so easy to plug into a PodPoint wherever I go, I most often recharge at Tesco or Lidl, even though it’s not essential. It’s free to park, so why not. And having a small battery means it does take that long before my battery is back up to 80% or more.
My big disappointment is that Honda UK failed dismally to promote the Honda e and continue to plug their hybrids. So much for Driving the Future, they just keep flogging the Jazz.
There are now some compact EVs but the choice is still limited. The Mini and the Fiat are smaller inside, and still converted ICE models despite the various uplifts. When Stellantis finally launch the Renault 5 e people might get exicted again. The Chinese have brought us the quirly Fun Cat, and the Citroen AMI is another bold innovation. And we await the ID2 which could prove popular. But we are now 5 years on.
As a Footnote I read today that the ASA have ruled than Nissan e-Power TV ad must be withdrawn, until they are honest that it is Fossil Fuel powered, not Electric.
So some Good News to lighten the mood.
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