Honda may have scrapped three planned battery-electric vehicles this past month, as well as its joint venture with Sony, but its not giving up on EVs entirely. Its new Fastport eQuad is set to debut at this week’s New York Auto Show. What’s that? Headlight.News will fill you in.
A rendering shows how Honda’s Fastport eQuad could traverse crowded urban environments.
Honda will formally debut its new Fastport EV at the New York International Auto Show this week.
Fast what? More precisely, the Fasport eQuad, the first product from a new B2B project it hopes will “transform” the last-mile delivery business.
The project is moving ahead despite Honda’s decision to kill off three all-electric models it planned to launch in the U.S. over the coming year, as well as the Afeela joint venture it had been working on with Sony.
What’s new?
The Fastport eQuad offers a partial enclosure for the driver.
With Americans doing ever more shopping online, automakers are racing to come up with just the right delivery solutions. Honda aims to redefine the “last mile” van with the new Fastport eQuad Prototype. A fraction of the size of the familiar UPS truck or the Rivian EVs built for Amazon Prime, eQuad is an electric quadricycle which, Honda explains, is “designed for use in bike lanes to enable the delivery of goods in urban areas.”
Unlike some pedal-powered delivery vehicles now on the road, drivers won’t have to work up a sweat with eQuad. While final data has yet to be released, Honda previously suggested its drive-by-wire electric propulsion system should provide enough power to go up to 23 miles between charges, even when fully loaded. Top speed was originally promised to reach a modest 12 mph – about as fast as you can get in a conventional vehicle in many urban settings.
Describing it as a “micromobility vehicle and software-defined platform,” Honda believes the eQuad has a number of advantages. Among the unique features of the rickshaw-like vehicle: the ability to keep going by simply swapping out its battery pack.
Two versions
Fastport eQuad uses AI to lay out routes and make it easier to track drivers.
We’ll have to wait for Honda’s official debut on April 1 – no fooling – but based on prior information Headlight.News learned the plan was to offer two separate versions of eQuad:
Two versions of the quadricycle are being developed:
- The Large Box model measures 89 inches in length and can carry up to a 650 lb payload;
- The Small Box model measures 75 inches and payload drops to 320 lbs. Honda has yet to determine its range.
Whatever the final line-up, expect the quadricycle to be highly flexible, users able to swap out cargo boxes, whatever the need at the moment.
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OTA on the job
GM killed off its Brightdrop subsidiary which had its own last-mile e-Cart in development.
The quadricycle may look primitive but, explained Honda, it features an AI-powered software, its instrument panel offering “real-time insights that enhance driver and fleet-management operations. The system also can download over-the-air software updates, as they’re developed.”
As for drivers, there’s no traditional cabin but they get at least some protection from the elements with “a canopy with UV coating and a ceramic tint option, along with a ventilation fan and full-frontal enclosure.”
Considering the growth of online shopping, it’s no surprise the auto industry has joined the hunt for ways to enhance the delivery process. But it hasn’t been quite as easy as expected. General Motors, for one, last year abandoned its once-promising BrightDrop subsidiary which was originally intended to produce a variety of delivery vehicles, from all-electric vans to the micro-compact e-Cart.
Ironically, Honda is sticking with Fastport even as it pulls back from what had been an aggressive retail EV program. It last year dropped the Acura RDX and is now scrubbing a second Acura model, along with U.S. plans for its new 0 Series EVs. Also dead: the Afeela program it had developed in a joint venture with Sony.
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