Honda released one of the most interesting concepts at CES last year with two Honda Zero prototypes: the Saloon and the Space-Hub. I promised to come back in a year with something a little closer to production. But instead of toning down the space-age design elements, Honda went with them. The way in.
The Honda 0 Saloon and Honda 0 SUV retain much of what made the concepts strange and different – and not necessarily in an unexpected way. But it’s definitely not the electric CR-V that customers were led to believe He begs the company To make for years. In effect, Honda seems to be saying to all those people who want ordinary-looking electric cars: “We see you. We hear you. We don’t care.”
Much has already been said about the similarities between these Honda Zero models and some famous cars from the 1970s and 1980s, such as the Lamborghini Countach, AMC Gremlin, Aston Martin Lagonda Shooting Brakeand (h/t Jason Torchinsky) the Brubaker Fund.
My theory is that Honda is pursuing these design inspirations as a way to offset the future shock of a very minimalist interior and all the marketing talk about “software-defined vehicles.” After all, Honda’s real announcement this year was the operating system it developed in-house, named after its famous Asimo robot.
Zero EVs often seem like a lot of window dressing for the actual product, which is the software. What better way to get people to listen to a TED talk about “High Performance System on a Chip” than to stand in front of a car that looks like it should be floating in low orbit?
Honda 0 saloon
One thing I noticed about the sedan is the lack of a rear window – that rounded rectangle at the back is not transparent. The depth effect is very impressive, but it doesn’t obscure the incognito window. It’s just the back light.
Another thing that caught my attention was the lack of side mirrors. Honda uses cameras instead. Drivers who want to check their blind spots will need to use two screens built into either end of the long piece of glass that runs the length of the dashboard. Of course, US safety regulations require regular old side mirrors, so this seems mostly ambitious.
Honda 0 SUV
The SUV is less “present” than the sedan, which probably means we’ll likely see a version of it on American roads before the sedan. Sure, there’s a rear window, and the greenhouse ventilation seems to nod to the Honda Zero’s design principles of “thin, light and wise.”
However, we don’t have any specifications for either vehicle Honda said Its Zero EVs will draw from the automaker’s Formula 1 racing experience. The automaker also aims to achieve optimal battery efficiency through an e-hub system that consists of a motor, inverter and gearbox that converts electrical energy into driving energy. Each electric vehicle is expected to have a range of about 300 miles, which translates to an 80 to 90 kilowatt-hour battery.
Other important details include an attempt to integrate electronic control units, similar to Rivian’s recently relaunched R1 vehicles. By reducing the number of components and wires, Honda is clearly trying to reduce its costs in an environment where the price of production appears to be rising.
Interior
The absence of anything resembling a physical knob or remote dial inside any of the vehicles is a very good sign that automakers continue to ignore customer pleas to stop porting every last bit of functionality through their digital interfaces. Yes, I’m an old man Screaming at the cloudsBut for the love of God, give me something to twist or push. Trying to adjust the heat by blindly tapping on a smooth glass panel while cruising down the highway at 75 mph is not exactly my idea of a good time.
A yoke is… a yoke. Automakers love their steering yoke! But when it comes time to put something into production, they often fall back on wheel shapes. The sunroof is another feature that suggests “thin” principles. Obviously, Honda’s promise that its Zero cars will come with Level 3 autonomous driving, also known as “hands-free and eyes-free” driving, needs further clarification. What does the handover process look like between the autonomous system and the driver? How would it explain our human tendency to zone out when we are not actively engaged in driving?
There are a lot of questions surrounding these compounds! Will they go into production? There is a non-zero chance.
