Honda was slow to enter the long-range EV market — and then only with the help of General Motors. Now, the Japanese automaker wants to go it alone and it’s showing off what it has in mind with the debut of two distinctive new concepts from its new Honda 0 series at CES 2024.
Honda introduced its 0 Series concept vehicles at CES.
Honda has struggled to find its way into the EV market after generating little interest with the all-electric version of its old Clarity line. Now, it’s zeroing in with an entirely new lineup of long-range EVs set to debut in 2026. And it’s giving a look at the direction it plans to take with two Honda 0 Series concepts making their debut at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Simply dubbed the “Saloon,” and the “Space-Hub,” the edgy designs Honda has adopted clearly won’t get lost in the increasingly crowded field of battery-electric vehicles. Honda has even revealed a new version of its “H-Mark” logo, the first update in more than four decades.
“The mobility we dream of is not an extension of the trend of ‘thick, heavy, but smart’ EVs,” said Toshihiro Mibe, Global CEO of Honda. “We will create a completely new value from zero based on thin, light and wise as the foundation for our new Honda 0 EV series to further advance the joy and freedom of mobility to the next level.”
Going it alone
Set to debut in the U.S. in 2026, the production version of the Saloon will serve as the flagship of the new Honda Series 0 family.
Like its Japanese archrival, Toyota, Honda has been a reluctant entrant into the EV market. It briefly entered the segment with a relatively short-range version of its Clarity model. Its first long-range model, the Honda Prologue, only comes to market this year — along with a more upscale version, the Acura ZDX. Both are based on General Motors’ new Ultium technology.
With the debut of the Honda 0 Series, the automaker will go it alone, creating an entirely new, skateboard-style platform placing batteries and motors below the load floor. That will free up space normally required by an engine compartment, yielding class-above levels of passenger and cargo space.
“We must rethink everything we know about EVs,” Mine told Headlight.News.
Honda isn’t offering many technical details about its new 0 Series models beyond noting they will use new “high-density” batteries expected to yield plenty of range. And the new EVs, it said, will be able to charge up from 15% to 80%, using public quick chargers, in as little as 15 minutes.
By the end of the decade, the company expects to using all solid-state batteries for its EVs, Honda Global EVP Shinji Aoyama told Headlight.News exclusively.
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Honda 0 Saloon
Set to debut in the U.S. in 2026, the production version of the Saloon will serve as the flagship of the new Honda Series 0 family.
Honda isn’t offering many technical details about its new 0 Series models beyond noting they will use new “high-density” batteries
Like the old Clarity, the Saloon concept adopts a rather spacy, low and wide exterior shape, as well as an interior that highlights its “man maximum/machine minimum” design philosophy. The use of the skateboard architecture will yield a rather large cabin considering its modest exterior footprint.
It also features gull wing doors, which likely won’t make it to the production version of the vehicle, Aoyama told Headlight.News exclusively.
The instrument panel will feature a new layout — or “human-machine interface,” in Honda-speak — that enables simple and intuitive operations.
“It also will introduce new steer-by-wire and motion control management systems,” according to the automaker, borrowing from the automaker’s extensive involvement in robotics.
Space-Hub
Honda isn’t saying much about plans for the Space Hub, beyond noting that other 0 Series models will follow the 2026 production launch of the Saloon.
Honda isn’t saying much about plans for the Space-Hub, beyond noting that other 0 Series models will follow the 2026 production launch of the Saloon.
Following the theme of “augmenting people’s daily lives,” the Space-Hub is a roomy people mover, a living room on wheels. It’s the sort of design that other manufacturers have rolled out in recent years to show what travel could be like when fully autonomous driving becomes the norm.
“The Space-Hub offers a flexible space that immediately accommodates a variety of passengers and becomes a “hub” that connects people to each other and the outside world,” Honda said in a statement.
In fact, Space-Hub features a retractible yoke to better allow for Level 4 autonomous driving capability. However, Aoyama told Headlight.News that the automaker will not exceed advanced Level 2 or Level 3 capabilities before the end of this decade.
Like the 0 Series Saloon, the Space-Hub concept showcases the redesigned Honda “H Mark” logo, the first major change in its look since the current badge was designed in 1981.
Automated driving
As one might expect, the 0 Series models will adopt plenty of new technology, including a centralized computer control system. AI is the big buzz at CES this year and, as one might expect, Honda said it will use artificial intelligence to power the latest version of the Sensing Elite suite of advanced driver-assistance technologies it will feature in the 0 Series models.
As one might expect, the 0 Series models will adopt plenty of new technology, including a centralized computer control system.
Though it didn’t reveal what level of autonomy it’s planning to offer, it suggested the technology will allow “some hands-off functions for use on both expressways and surface streets. The automaker also said that this technology will even be available on “more affordable EV models to introduce AD systems at a wider scale.”
Aoyama later confirmed to Headlight.News the focus will be on more hands-off but not eyes-off capability, suggesting more advanced Level 2 technology than Level 3 or Level 4.
Honda 0 Series EVs will use connected-car technologies and a unique new operating system also based on AI, Honda added, capable of reading and adapting to driver behavior. The technology also will permit over-the-air updates of onboard software, as well as the ability to add new functions and features remotely.
Among other things, the smart technology should help Honda 0 vehicles monitor their battery packs, to extend battery life. The automaker said it expects its new EVs to lose less than 10% of their initial range, even after 10 years of use.
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