Monday, September 8, 2008

Honda could care less to go electric… for now

Besides Tesla Motors some automakers you think of when you think of an electric-car is GM’s Chevrolet, Toyota, Nissan - but no one thinks Honda (well some of you probably do). That’s because Honda is staying away from electric-cars and according to its r&d chief Masaaki Kato, Honda has no plans to produce electric-vehicles.

“Nowadays, the most advanced batteries are lithium ion batteries. But even though the size is getting smaller, the density of the energy is still too poor for cars,” Kato said.

Kato said that since right now electric-cars offer limited mileage, by 2015 they will account for less than 1 percent of the market in developed countries - a percentage that Honda is not satisfied with.

Toyota, Nissan, Subaru, Mitsubishi all plan on introducing an electric-vehicle within the next 50 years with a range of 60 miles on full-charge.

Source;
www.automotivenews.com (sub. req'd)

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