Honda doubles investment in electric car and software

The company will spend €60 billion to create a new model family with super-slim batteries and super-compact engines

Honda Space Hub Concept

By: Francesco Barontini

Published by: Brian Potter

May 19, 2024 at 3:43am ET

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Honda is doubling its investment to support the ecological transition. In fact, the Japanese manufacturer will spend more than €60 billion over the next 10 years.

This was stated by CEO Toshihiro Mibe during a press conference in which he said that, compared to what was declared in 2022, Honda has decided to double the figure to 10 trillion yen (the more than €60 billion mentioned above) for electrification and software.

A supply problem

Honda stated that the decisive turn to electric only came now because it had previously failed to secure an adequate supply of batteries.

This was particularly difficult due to the fact that the Japanese manufacturer had initially adopted a more timid approach to zero emissions and, like several other brands based in the Land of the Rising Sun, had preferred a more gradual transition.

Prototype Sony Honda Mobility Afeela 2024

The electric prototype produced by Sony and Honda

'With regard to the development of next-generation software,' said Mibe, 'we simply realised that the strategy defined two years ago was not enough. So we increased the investment considerably. The fact is that we have to work on software-oriented vehicles and until now we have paid more attention to hardware.

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Starting in 2026

The fruits of these efforts Honda is making will be seen from 2026, when the company will put its first models on the market. The idea is to guarantee ranges of at least 300 miles. This will be achieved by adopting new-generation batteries that will be ultra-thin and will perform better than the current ones. Electric cars arriving from 2026 will also have ultra-compact electric motors.

Photo - Honda e:Ny1 - Prova

The Honda e:Ny1 electric SUV about to hit the market

This will reduce the production costs of electric cars by around 35 per cent compared to today. The company will launch seven electric models by the end of the decade, so Honda should return to full utilisation of its entire workforce. This week alone, Honda had to deal with 1,700 redundancies caused by very strong competition from Chinese brands, which are also gaining a fair share of success in Japan.