Merging onto Electric Ave.: Honda is the latest automaker to build an electric vehicle in response to federal mandates

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Oct 21, 1996 | by Eric Peters

Honda is the latest automaker to build an electric vehicle in response to federal mandates.

Honda's first tentative foray into the mandated market for electric vehicles, or EVs, appears grounded in the understandable belief that EVs will have a limited appeal to private owners. Like the Ford Ecostar, the forthcoming 1997 Honda EV is a van-like machine seemingly intended for commercial use.

The Japanese automaker says its EV is a "four-passenger car" but nevertheless plans to lease them primarily to fleet users at first -- a reasonable approach given the high cost, limited range and performance drawbacks that face any would-be electric-vehicle owner. Fleet service mitigates these problems to a certain extent by keeping the vehicles on predictable routes -- with a ready-to-go infrastructure of recharging facilities and maintenance crews to support them.

The Honda EV uses an exotic power source: Nickel-metal hydride, or NiMh, batteries instead of the more conventional lead-acid type found in electric vehicles manufactured by General Motors and Chrysler. The Ecostar relies on a fairly radical sodium-sulfur "hot" battery that must be maintained at several hundred degrees Fahrenheit to keep its electrolyte solution from freezing -- a disadvantage made up by its superior power output. NiMh batteries, however, offer greater electrical storage capacity, range and cycle life over their lead-acid counterparts -- but remain considerably more expensive.

No specific dollar figures are available for the Honda EV's NiMh battery pack, but the Ecostar's sodium-sulfur batteries are estimated to cost $10,000 to $30,000 and must be replaced every three or four years. Lead-acid battery packs, in contrast, are expected to sell for $1,000 or so. They too must be replaced periodically The high cost of sodium-sulfur and NiMh batteries ultimately may keep them from being anything more than exotic engineering exercises, according to industry analysts.

But how does the Honda EV perform? Based on the standard Federal Urban Driving Schedule, or FUDS, a government test designed to simulate city driving, the Honda EV has a best-case range of approximately 125 miles -- pretty good as electric vehicles go. However, it meanders to 60 mph in a languid 18.7 seconds and has a top speed of just under 80 mph -- making it slower than an early Volkswagen Beetle.

These acceleration figures are markedly inferior to the sporty GM EV-1, which can hustle to 60 mph in under nine seconds. Then again, the range of the lead-acid powered EV-1 is just 70 miles under optimum conditions (warm weather and no use of accessories such as air conditioning, heat or headlights). Like other cutting-edge electric vehicles, the Honda EV comes standard with an onboard conductive charger to make "fill-ups" easier and safer.

Other features include a brushless DC motor capable of producing 203 foot-pounds of of torque, rack-and-pinion steering, electric power steering, dual airbags, heat-pump type air conditioning and heating. hot-wire deicer and an automatic power saver that activates whenever battery charge falls below 20 percent.

Some 300 Honda EVs will be produced initially, with the first of these scheduled to be in service beginning in the spring of 1997. "Turn-key" leasing will be provided that includes maintenance, insurance, roadside assistance and battery replacement.