With EVs, Honda may be North America’s most committed automaker, for the moment
The All-New, All-Electric Honda Prologue is on display at the 2023 Los Angeles Auto Show at the Los Angeles Convention Center on November 24, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. While missing a host of brands, this year’s edition of the Los Angeles Auto Show debuted a range of new models.
Josh Lefkowitz | Getty Images News | Getty Images
As the auto industry attempts to time its years-long, sprawling shift away from combustible engines to electric vehicles, some legacy car makers are playing up hybrids as a waystation along what is now more likely to be framed as a decades-long path. But at least one automaker says it is ramping up its North American EV strategy in 2024: Honda Motor Company.
This spring, there has been a flurry of announcements from the Japanese company, including an $11 billion investment in a Canadian EV hub — the company calls it a “comprehensive EV value chain” — and an EV transformation of Ohio operations.
Honda’s EV moves come against the backdrop of EV pullbacks from other major auto manufacturers; and in some cases, shelved EV plans altogether. GM said it no longer will provide EV production targets so it can build to market demand, while Ford said it would delay about $12 billion in EV investments.
“Each manufacturer has their reasons for their direction,” said Bob Nelson, executive vice president of American Honda Motor Co.
Even as Honda commits more to EVs, its investment approach implies a hedging of bets. Nelson says a $700 million investment in creating the EV operations in Ohio gives the company latitude to tailor production to market conditions.
“The $700 million investment gives us the flexibility to produce ICE [internal combustible engine] and BEV [battery electric vehicle] on the same line. We think that is a smart strategy as the market continues to grow,” Nelson said.
It’s also being designed to build expertise, efficiencies and knowledge that can be shared across all of Honda’s North American operations, including engineering and purchasing, and potentially around the world. “Having all of those functions and experience here gives us the ability to develop the capabilities, standards, and profits for EVs, which we will use throughout the world as we expand our EV footprint,” Nelson said.
He added that Honda is on track to achieve its goal of having 80% of its vehicle lineup be EVs by 2035 and 100% by 2040.
Critics say Honda already late to EV transition
Some industry analysts say that Honda’s more aggressive short-term EV plan is simply a reflection of its need to play catch-up.
“They are catching up and getting into the game for sure,” said Cliff Banks, founder of the Banks Report, which analyzes automotive trends.
Other automakers, meanwhile, are pulling back because of limited customer engagement and cost.
“Auto manufacturers have seen that the costs are really expensive in trying to bring viable EVs to the market,” Banks said. “Basically, what they are doing is rebuilding the airplane while still flying it. Honda will feel that same cost pressure moving forward; I’d not be surprised to see them back off.”
It’s a confusing market for automakers to time perfectly.
“As we make this transformation, it’s going to happen over decades. And that’s why I couldn’t be more proud of our gas-powered fleet as well,” GM CEO Mary Barra recently told NBC News. A GM spokesman quickly followed up to say the company is actually aiming to exclusively sell electric vehicles by 2035. GM recently began shipping its first mass-market, all-electric crossover, a version of its popular Equinox model, to dealers.
As the EV market stalled, and prices dropped, recent sales have improved. Sales of Ford’s lineup of EVs, and also hybrids, surged in May, showing how tough it is for automakers to forecast this evolving, and high investment cost, market in the short-term.
Banks noted Honda has made splashy announcements in the past that have not come to fruition, pointing to a planned roll out of EVs with GM that never got off the ground. Regarding Honda’s plans to produce 240,000 EV units in Canada, Banks said, “We’ll see.”
“I think there will be some short-term changes along the way, but we are still early into this transition to battery-powered electric vehicles,” Nelson said. Honda is talking up hybrids, too, with Nelson, adding that hybrid models like its CR-V is a good “transition car” to get consumers into the EV world.
An unsettled, if not chaotic, electric vehicle market
Some industry analysts view Honda’s EV strategy as more than just cosmetic, if maybe more opportunistic than unique in its long-term plan.
Cars.com editor Jenni Newman said Honda can fill a void as other automakers scale back.
According to Kelley Blue Book’s latest survey, Tesla, long the EV market leader, saw its market share fall to 51.3% during the first quarter, down from 61.71% last year.
The arrival of competitors has left the market unsettled. “It is not chaos, but it is close. Tesla has decreased prices on their new cars, which has impacted the used car side,” Newman said.
Meanwhile, well-established OEMs like Honda are coming in with their own EVs, along with upstarts like Rivian, which just redesigned its all-electric R1 pickup and SUV models to improve range, performance and computing power using Nvidia chips.
“We do not know how it will all shake out,” Newman said.
GM itself is playing a key role in the first mass-market EV Honda is introducing, the Prologue. It uses the Chevy Blazer design, while Honda’s luxury brand, Acura, is basing its first EV on a Cadillac — both with added Honda-centric styles and features.
“This is not unusual in the automotive space; it is a way for them to jump in,” Newman says, likening it to Toyota’s collaboration with Subaru. Honda’s investment in Ohio will allow for ramping up of Prologue production.
The All-Electric Acura ZDX is displayed during the 2023 Los Angeles Auto Show at the Los Angeles Convention Center on November 24, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
Josh Lefkowitz | Getty Images News | Getty Images
It’s difficult for automakers to make quick pivots because of the complex supply chains that feed into the entire automotive ecosystem. For Honda, being fully EV by 2040 is in line with other automaker transitions, which Newman described as “fairly fast” for all. “That is a long time for you and me, but for an automaker, that is the planning they have to do because of the scope of the industry and the globalization of the industry,” she said.
Honda’s plan to get to 100% zero emissions by 2040 relies on more than just EVs, too, with fuel cells in the mix as well. In a separate shift away from traditional auto technology, Honda and GM began to jointly produce hydrogen fuel cells as a diesel alternative this year. Honda has also ben ramping its hiring and construction at an Ohio plant formed by a $3.5 billion joint venture with LG Energy Solution in 2022, which will provide batteries for Honda and Acura EVs.
Honda could have a brand advantage
Honda has a trusted name with consumers to capitalize on at a time of doubts about EVs, among both consumers and carmakers. A survey this year conducted by Edmunds asked customers which brands they trust to make the best EV. Tesla finished first at 23%, followed by BMW at 13%, Toyota at 12%, and Honda at 8%. Ford rounded out the top 5.
Hyundai and Kia have done much more in the EV space but didn’t make it into the top five, noted Jessica Caldwell, Head of Insights at Edmunds. Toyota and Honda, meanwhile, made the cut among consumers even though they produce just one fully EV model (BMW produces five). “This sets Honda up well,” she said.
In April, Honda was the second fastest-selling mass-market car brand on Cars.com.
The market downturn, coupled with government incentives, are bringing EV prices into striking distance of traditional cars, but consumer sentiment over EVs still seems to have soured, or at least stalled. A Gallup poll of Americans in April found ownership of EVs increasing by 3% annually, but an equal percentage decline in consumers who indicated serious interest in buying an EV, down from 12% to 9%. Overall, 35% of Americans said they might consider buying an EV in the future, down from 43% last year.
Roadblocks will remain, even for EV manufacturers like Honda that score high in surveys, and not only the tangible issues of affordability, improving battery life, range, and charging station availability. Another big hurdle is political. “There is a portion of the public that has decided that EVs are just not for them,” Caldwell said. “They have made their mind up, they don’t support it. It is almost like a political standpoint, so it doesn’t matter how good the vehicles are.” Edmunds surveys show a partisan divide, with Republicans less inclined than Democrats to buy an EV or support the transition more broadly. “Automakers have to overcome this,” Caldwell said.
For Honda, brand is an advantage it would not want to wait too long to attempt to capitalize on in EVs. In the least, “they need to get into the conversation,” Newman said.
The Tesla Cybertruck is in crisis. The automaker is still sitting on a ton of old inventory, which it is now heavily discounting, and it is throttling down production to try to avoid building up the inventory again.
When launching the production version of the Cybertruck in late 2023, Tesla CEO Elon Musk claimed that the vehicle program would reach 250,000 units a year in 2025:
“I think we’ll end up with roughly a quarter million Cybertrucks a year, but I don’t think we’re going to reach that output rate next year. I think we’ll probably reach it sometime in 2025.”
We are now in 2025, and Tesla is expected to currently be selling the Cybertruck at a rate of about 25,000 units a year – a tenth of what Musk predicted.
Earlier this month, we reported that Tesla began the second quarter with 2,400 Cybertrucks in inventory, valued at over $200 million.
This is a real problem for Tesla as many of those Cybertrucks are older 2024 model year units not eligible for the federal tax credit, and even some ‘Foundation Series’, which Tesla stopped building in October 2024 – meaning that Tesla is sitting on some 6-month-old trucks in some cases.
Tesla is now offering deeper discounts on the new inventory of Cybertrucks. The discounts can go as high as $10,000, but the average one is closer to $8,000, which is more than the tax credit:
Despite Tesla’s efforts, the automaker has only reduced its Cybertruck inventory by about 100 units since the beginning of the month.
Tesla is now further throttling down production of the Cybertruck at Gigafactory Texas, according to a new report from Business Insider.
According to two Tesla workers speaking with BI, the automaker has reduced its Cybertruck production teams and now operates at a fraction of its original capacity. It also moved some Cybertruck production workers to Model Y production at the plant.
One of the workers said:
“It feels a lot like they’re filtering people out. The parking lot keeps getting emptier.”
As we previously reported, Tesla has been operating all its factories at approximately 60% capacity to avoid building up excessive inventory amid lower demand.
When it comes to the Cybertruck program, it sounds like Tesla is lowering production even further.
Last week, Tesla launched a new version of the Cybertruck in an attempt to boost demand, but it has been poorly received due to the automaker’s removal of many essential features.
Electrek’s Take
There are a lot of other automakers that would have already given up on the Cybertruck ith these results, but not Tesla. Musk is not one to admit defeat easily.
However, Tesla is running out of options.
The new Cybertruck RWD was a desperate attempt, and I doubt it will work. Now, it sounds like Tesla is further throttling down production – virtually confirming that the new trim didn’t help.
The next step would be a complete production pause.
Again, I don’t think Musk wants to admit defeat, but at some point, it’s inevitable.
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LiveWire, the electric motorcycle brand spun out of Harley-Davidson, has officially launched a new line of electric motorcycles tailored for law enforcement and security use. The move marks another example of electric two-wheelers expanding beyond consumer markets and into professional and government fleets.
The company’s new LiveWire fleet program debuted with its electric motorcycle models adapted to include law enforcement-specific features like sirens, emergency lighting, and reinforced mounting points for gear. They are designed for urban patrol duties, security, and events where agility and low operational noise are critical.
As LiveWire explains, the electric drivetrain offers several advantages over traditional gas-powered police motorcycles, including lower maintenance needs, reduced operational costs, and near-silent operation. Those can be strategic advantages for many law enforcement departments. Instant torque and quick acceleration also give officers a performance edge in dense urban environments.
Additionally, the lack of a clutch and the ability to operate the motorcycle entirely with just the right hand and right foot, as opposed to a traditional motorcycle requiring the use of both hands and both feet, make the bikes ideal for reducing rider fatigue during long shifts and for low-speed operation like motorcade duty.
Departments will be able to configure bikes with a range of custom options through LiveWire’s fleet division. The fleet program highlights benefits such as regenerative braking for improved efficiency, customizable ride modes, and short recharging times allowing officers to quickly recharge during shifts if needed.
The initiative comes at a time when interest in electric police vehicles is rising. Several major cities have already begun integrating electric vehicles including e-bikes into their fleets to reduce emissions and lower fuel costs. LiveWire’s dedicated police motorcycles could help fill a niche where traditional gas-powered motorcycles are too noisy, high-maintenance, or costly for modern policing needs. That’s exaclty what we’ve seen in the past when the original Harley-Davidson LiveWire electric motorcycle was already drafted into police department use years ago.
For now, LiveWire’s police models are targeting agencies across North America, but given the growing global demand for greener fleets, it’s likely we’ll see broader adoption if the program proves successful.
Electric motorcycles have also proven popular among police departments and security forces both in the US and around the world.
As electric vehicle technology continues to improve and charging infrastructure expands, it’s all but inevitable that more police and security fleets will gradually transition to electric models.
The combination of lower operating costs, easier maintenance, and environmental benefits makes electrification an increasingly practical and attractive option for public safety agencies.
Current battery technology, which generally provides around 100 miles (160 km) of range, positions these electric motorcycles ideally for urban law enforcement roles. This urban setting is precisely where their strengths become most apparent. Quiet operation, zero emissions, and significantly reduced maintenance costs make electric police motorcycles particularly beneficial for high-mileage city fleets.
via: Officer.com
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Environment
Archer unveils eVTOL air taxi network with United to connect passengers to all major NYC airports
Imagine landing at JFK or LaGuardia after a fun but taxing vacation, and instead of hailing a two-hour cab ride or asking your brother-in-law to come and get you, you take to the skies in an eVTOL. You’re back on the ground in 15 minutes for a short trip back home to bed. What a time to be alive. eVTOL developer Archer Aviation is making this dream a reality alongside its business partner, United Airlines, offering travelers to NYC a new map of air taxi routes to travel to and from NYC airports.
As you may or may not already know, Archer Aviation ($ACHR) is a Santa Clara, California-based aviation developer specializing in designing and developing electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, particularly for use in urban air mobility (UAM) networks such as air taxi services.
Archer remains one of the more exciting eVTOL developers we follow and stays relevant on our news beat with steady announcements of new partnerships with companies worldwide to develop and implement networks of sustainable air travel using its flagship Midnight eVTOL aircraft.
One of Archer’s long-standing partners has been Stellantis, which signed an agreement to become the exclusive manufacturer of Archer’s eVTOL technology at a new facility in the US, specifically Covington, Georgia. Last summer, Archer announced that a new US facility had completed construction, and Midnight eVTOL production was scheduled to begin in early 2025.
In addition to Stellantis, plenty of other big names have invested in Archer and/or signed agreements with the eVTOL specialist, including Boeing and ARK Invest. Aviation companies like Southwest and Soracle in Japan have signed ventures to establish eVTOL air taxi networks in major metropolitan areas like Tokyo, Los Angeles, and Chicago – the latter of which comes via a landmark agreement with Signature Airlines signed in June 2024.
Another partner is United Airlines, which is working alongside Archer to establish a new eVTOL air taxi network around the NYC metropolitan area, connecting Manhattan to several nearby airports. You can see the NYC air taxi route map below:
Archer unveils eVTOL air taxi routes coming to NYC
Archer Aviation unveiled the initial route map for air taxi operations in NYC this morning alongside details of its ongoing partnership with United Airlines. The pending air taxi network includes vertiports at JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark Airports around NYC and a presence at regional airports and three helipads in the city itself.
Per Archer, the goal is to provide travelers with a new, safe, and sustainable method of transportation in which they can visit a nearby heliport and fly 5 to 15 minutes in a Midnight eVTOL to their destination as opposed to potentially sitting in hours of NYC traffic. Archer founder and CEO Adam Goldstein elaborated:
The New York region is home to three of the world’s preeminent airports, serving upwards of 150 million passengers annually. But the drive from Manhattan to any of these airports can be painful, taking one, sometimes two hours. We want to change that by giving residents and visitors the option to complete trips in mere minutes. With its existing helicopter infrastructure, regulatory support and strong demand, I believe New York could be one of the first markets for air taxis in the United States.
Thanks to its partnership with United, Archer said its future passengers can book air taxi flights in NYC as an “add-on” to their existing itinerary. As an example, the eVTOL developer said a customer would be able to take a Midnight eVTOL, which is designed to transport four passengers plus a pilot, from a vertiport downtown to the Newark Airport in less than ten minutes, then go through security and board their commercial flight as normal, saving tons of time along the way.
As a long-term investor and customer in Archer’s eVTOL technology, United Airlines intends to work alongside its partner to help make these air taxi routes around NYC a reality. Andrew Chang, Head of United Airlines Ventures, also spoke:
At United, our focus is on driving innovation, reimagining the future of air travel and enhancing the customer experience every step of the journey. Our strategic collaboration with Archer will be key to our efforts to build and optimize the infrastructure – such as real estate development, air space management, and safety and security protocols – necessary to bring advanced air mobility to our customers.
Here is the full list of planned vertiports for air taxi travel around the NYC metropolitan area:
- Major Airports: John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport, Newark Airport
- NYC Helipads: East 34th Street Heliport, Downtown Skyport, West 30th Street Heliport
- Regional Airports: Westchester County Airport, Teterboro Airport, Republic Airport
The NYC network is a part of Archer’s more extensive plans to establish eVTOL air taxi travel across populated and traffic-dense areas in the US, including additional networks in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Archer shared it is currently working through the final stages of FAA approval to get those routes up and running.
A representative for the company shared the following update when asked when we might see Archer air taxi operations in the New York City area:
We’re taking a step by step approach for any new market we’re launching in, starting with a few aircraft on a few routes. We’ll ramp commercial operations upon receiving Type Certification from the FAA. We’re in the final stages of FAA type certification for Midnight, and once complete, we’ll be ready to begin commercial operations. We will start slowly, with a “crawl, walk, run” approach with Midnight’s roll-out. In the U.S., we’ve identified New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco as our initial markets.
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