Honda: 2/3Rds Of Our Vehicles Will Be Plug-In Or Hydrogen By 2030

8 years, 8 months ago - 25 February 2016, Autoblog

Honda has a new and expanded vision for its plug-in electric vehicles, including more plug-in lawn mowers and construction machines. While things like the Miimo are cool, we'll admit that we're more into the heavy emphasis that Honda CEO Takahiro Hachigo just put on pure electric, plug-in hybrid, and fuel cell vehicles. In fact, Hachigo is so confident in these electric options that he said that Honda expects fully two-thirds of its vehicles will fit into one of those three categories by 2030.

Speaking at an annual speech in Japan, Hachigo talked about an electric version of the popular Honda Cub motorcycle, the EV-CUB. This electric two-wheeler could come to Japan in about two year and then to various countries in Southeast Asia. As for four-wheelers, the way that Hachigo sees electrification working is to first emphasize plug-in hybrids as the core of the brand's electrification efforts. Specifically, he said that, "we will make a plug-in hybrid type available for our major models and increase the number of models sequentially." The end result, he said, is that, "we will strive to make two-thirds of our overall unit sales from plug-in hybrid/hybrid vehicles and zero-emissions vehicles such as, FCVs and battery EVs by around 2030." The company's next hydrogen vehicle is the Clarity, which goes on sale in Japan in March. It's next-gen EV and PHEV should arrive in or around 2018.

You can watch the speech in the video above. The electrification roadmap starts at around minute 32.

The only other traditional automaker that is willing to put a big number on its upcoming electric vehicle
sales is Audi, which said at the LA Auto Show last year that between 20 and 25 percent of its new vehicles sold will have a plug by 2025. If Audi wants to catch Honda's aggressive claims, it'll need to work hard in the five years after 2025.