A new partnership between Honda Motor and Chinese battery conglomerate Contemporary Amperex Technology (aka CATL) to develop a next-generation electric vehicle for the motor company with at least 300 kilometers (186 miles) of range*. The car would hit the market at just over $18,000.
The holistic partnership includes on-vehicle battery and supporting hardware development, electric vehicle performance testing, production technology, and battery specifications, per the Nikkei Asian Review.
The vehicle will be based on Honda’s Fit, which was also cannibalized for the limited release Honda Fit EV. Honda is looking to sell more than 100,000 of the new vehicles per year, which would make the new electric vehicle the brand’s highest volume electric vehicle. The vehicle will be introduced in China and other global markets in the first two quarters of 2020. *That being said, the 300 kilometer (186 mile) range is likely not an EPA-rated range estimate but an estimate based on the Chinese system, which is much more “generous” (read: inaccurate). What the real-world range would be is a bit nebulous at this point in time.
Honda had historically been focused on developing its fuel cell vehicle options, such as with the early introduction of its Honda FCX Clarity from 2008–2014. The Clarity mark later evolved into a umbrella for all of Honda’s alternative fuel vehicles, emerging as a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (HFCV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), and fully battery electric vehicle (BEV).
The new partnership forms the foundation of a larger play by Honda to ramp up its presence in electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles to 65% of global sales by 2030.
CATL’s push into electric vehicle battery supply is being driven largely by a push from Beijing and is now on track to ship more automotive batteries than any other manufacturer, holding 19% of the market share. Fueled by the booming domestic plug-in vehicle market in China, CATL is adding significant production capacity with a target of 50 gigawatt-hours per year by the end of 2020.
The new partnership between Honda and CATL comes on the heels of the Chinese government’s approval of CATL’s IPO last month. For much more news on the company, check out our CATL archives. And check out our Honda archives if that’s what interests you.
Source: Nikkei Asian Review
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