Greenest Car Company, Honda, Goes Greener Yet, Harder and Faster Page 2

By John Voelcker

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2010 Honda Insight - side

New system, twin motors

Nonetheless, Honda has returned to the drawing board with a new hybrid system for larger vehicles that uses two electric motors, rather than the single motor in the Integration Motor Assist system fitted to the 2010 Insight, all Civic Hybrid, and the upcoming CR-Z.

This means Honda is moving from its current "mild hybrid" system, which allows virtually no sustained electric range, toward a "full hybrid" system similar to Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive, which allows up to a mile of electric-only travel at low speeds.

The new, larger system might also use a lithium-ion battery pack, which stores twice as much energy in the same volume as today's nickel-metal-hydride packs.

Hybrid minivan for 2011?

Last month, the Japanese business daily Nikkei reported that Honda plans to launch the system on a new minivan in 2011. If that's true, it might even be offered on the U.S.-market Odyssey minivan,  scheduled for a redesign in the 2011 model year.

That would add hybrid technology in a niche that it has not so far penetrated: the family vehicle, or "people mover" category.

All-electric mini-car

Honda has also reversed its longstanding opposition to pure electric vehicles, admitting that it might develop EVs for Asian, European, and North American markets. That's not to say it will, but that it might.

Still, industry observers note that numerous companies, among them Toyota, General Motors, Ford, and Nissan, are planning electric mini-cars or compact vehicles. It's widely expected that Honda will launch at least a limited number of electric mini-cars.

These cars are often exempt from various taxes and congestion charges in Europe and Japan, and it's a way to acquire knowledge before rolling out more comprehensive battery electric vehicle programs.

Hydrogen fuel cells continue

Finally, Honda will continue its development of vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells, including its FCX Clarity midsize sedan, in a few select areas where hydrogen fueling infrastructure exists.

The company has long believed that hydrogen is the fuel of the future, but as the industry trend turns more and more toward fueling vehicles from the electric grid, Honda is bringing electric vehicles up in prominence.

For Honda CEO Takanobu Ito to say that electric cars are now also a "core option for cars in the future" is a remarkable concession to the emerging reality.  What happens to Honda's fuel-cell program now is anyone's guess.

Can they do it?

Can Honda shake up its products and make them even smaller, lighter, and greener without turning off customers who've acquired a taste for taut handling, clever features, and class-leading engines and transmissions?

It's a tall order, but some industry analysts consider Honda to be the world's smartest car company.

And while they're hardly the only one that's pushing hard for better fuel economy, their starting point is so green already that it makes us wonder: Should other companies be more worried than they are?

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