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California's Stringent Zero Emissions Policy Could Sway Honda Towards EVs

 
3 1,197 views October 9, 2009

Honda EV-N Concept EV

Honda EV-N Concept EV

Upcoming regulations in the state of California could force Honda to release an EV within the next few years.  California regulations will require automakers to sell a given number of zero emission vehicles within the state in the next decade forcing automakers to produce ZEVs or forfeit sales in California.

The regulations do not present a problem for many automakers who have scheduled the release of an EV within the next few years, but for Honda who is still not comitted to EVs, the regulations may force the automaker to begin development soon.

Honda has focused much of its research, time, and money into fuel cell powered vehicles.  Their current CEO Takanobu Ito believes that hydrogen fuel cells are the long term solution for emission free vehicles, but the infrastructure is slow in the making.

The existing hydrogen filling stations are virtually non-existent and new ones are slow to open.  In order to supply the Californian market with ZEVs, Honda may have no choice but to produce a battery electric vehicle.

The company has presented some EV concepts including the one pictured above, but is non-comittal at this time.  However, their joint venture with lithium-ion battery maker GS Yuasa could provide them with a source for batteries.  The venture was initially formed to supply Honda with batteries for upcoming hybrid models.

California's stringent emission policies have caused great grief for automakers in the past and may force Honda to temporarily break away from their belief that fuel cell are the vehicles of tomorrow.  Though work will certainly continue on fuel cell vehicles, Honda's focus may soon turn to producing an EV before new regulations go into effect.

Source:  Automotive News (login required)





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Comments (3)

  1. By Roy Posted: 10/9/2009 5:30pm PDT

    It is a shame that Honda may be forced down a path they do not wish to persue. If they can sell FC cars at a competitive price, they should be allowed to do so. Didn't they develope a hydrogen producer designed to go in the owner's garage? Wouldn't this get them by the infrastructure prdoblem? Once people were actually buying FCs (with Honda making a profit as opposed to special leases to promote FCs at a loss) I am sure that interest in supplying the infrastructure would pick up dramatically. On the other hand Honda may get into building and selling BEVs just because they are cheaper and better than FCs.
     
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  2. By jeffhre Posted: 10/10/2009 11:17am PDT

    A friend was talking to Yogi Berra and he said "It's Deja View all over again."
    Roy, manufactures make things to be competitive in using market share to create a reasonable return on investment, not because like my four year old neighbor says, I don't wanna but I gotta.
    Honda had the Phill to compress natural gas for their NG Civic, not a hydrogen maker. Until they pulled the plug on the Phil supplier credit guarantees which dooms them to a death of capital strangulation in a tight credit market.
    A home hydrogen maker would create obscenely expensive "fuel" and they can't succed with vastly less expensive NG.
     
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  3. By  Chris at CaFCP Posted: 10/12/2009 10:11am PDT

    Fuel cell vehicles are electric vehicles share many components with battery vehicles, and most automakers agree that both are necessary to reach the goal of reducing petroleum use. Most automakers don't say "BEV or FCV" they say "and." FCVs have made remarkable progress toward meeting customer expectations, now the stations are catching up. http://www.cafcp.org/progress/vehicles
     
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