Midsize EVs platform targets drive range over 500km
The platform will be targeted at midsize vehicles and mostly rear-motor, rear-wheel-drive vehicles, according to the report which anticipates the platform could be ready by 2022. Honda aims to increase the ratio of EVs to all the vehicles that it sells in the global market to about 15% by 2030 and the platform will have a role to play in this goal.
The report notes that Honda has been considering EVs as vehicles for travelling short distances and fuel-cell vehicles (FCVs) as the optimal solution for middle-to-long distances. To cover middle-to-long distances, EVs equipped with many large-mass batteries are considered inefficient by Honda which describes them as vehicles for carrying batteries.
But now the company is developing an EV for travelling middle-to-long distances with the aim to comply with the policies of China and some states of in the US, strengthening regulations.
Honda aims to design its platform with a modular area and a fixed area, so it can be used across all kinds of vehicles. In the modular area, external appearance could be differentiated through the use of outer panels and interior components. The fixed area could set the width of the battery pack and the location of the motor for driving the rear wheels while the modular area could be used to set the vehicle width, ground clearance, driver’s seat position and total battery capacity.
By separating (front) steering wheels from (rear) driving wheels, Honda aims to improve steering stability, only adding a motor on the front side to turn the platform into a four-wheel-drive vehicle
Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries will be placed under the floor of the platform, with removable battery modules to adjust the battery pack. The company will use motors manufactured by Honda and a joint venture between Honda and Hitachi Automotive Systems Ltd. The new platform is different from the one used in the “Honda e” compact EV to be commercialized in Europe in the second half of 2019.
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