You can forget about the delightfully retro-simple look inside and out that was part of what made the Honda E such a standout. Honda is shaping up to be one of the first carmakers with a full-width array of distinct screens, in the Honda E, when it goes on sale in Europe early next year.
Unlike the Byton M-Byte with its single, curved, 42-inch display, the Honda E uses five screens spanning the low-flat dashboard. Each serves a different purpose. The outer two act as monitors for the E's outside-mirror cameras; the one behind the wheel displays instrument readouts; and the two in the center provide different infotainment functions or can serve as a single, wide screen for watching movies when the car is parked.
In this video, Honda calls it a Dual Touchscreen Experience, with those two middle screens functioning together.
The prototype unveiled at the Geneva auto show earlier this year featured these screens, in blank form, but it wasn't apparent then how they would function or even if they would be headed to the production version.
The Honda E is designed as an urban runabout, with an electric range of 125 miles from its 35.5-kilowatt-hour battery. Drivers can charge to 80 percent at one of Europe's growing network of CCS fast chargers in 30 minutes. The charge port is on top of the nose of the car—a combination black stripe and hood ornament—to make it easy to reach from a charger on either side or in the front.
Honda E powertrain infographic
The E is also designed to be sporty, with responsive suspension tuning and rear-wheel drive. Its 142 horsepower and 221 pound-feet of torque should be enough to make acceleration entertaining if not necessarily quick.
Honda has said the E has room for a bigger battery pack, but the company has no plans to build them that way for now. The company has also said the E is not engineered for the U.S. market and will likely never make it across the Atlantic.
