Honda reveals SUV e:prototype, hinting at electric HR-V future

April 20, 2021April 29, 2021 Iain Curry 2533 Views honda e:prototype, honda electric, honda ev, honda hr-v electric

Honda has revealed a prototype of its first electric vehicle to be sold in China, the first of 10 it plans to introduce in the market within five years.

Of more interest to the rest of the world, this Honda SUV e:prototype is visually very similar to the all-new HR-V small SUV, arriving in Australia in late 2021 or early 2022, with a hybrid version expected to be front and centre.

Electric Honda SUV e:prototype revealed at Auto Shanghai 2021.

There’s speculation, therefore, the e:prototype hints at a full-electric version of the next-generation global HR-V, which could compete in Australia against the freshly-revealed 2022 Toyota bZ4X, Hyundai Kona Electric, Mazda MX-30 Electric and MG ZS EV.

The attractive SUV e:prototype was unveiled at the Shanghai Motor Show, looking far more production ready than Honda’s SUV e:concept shown at the September 2020 Beijing Auto Show.

The Japanese manufacturer said a production version of the SUV e:prototype will go on sale in China in early 2022, but no details on specification or pricing were revealed.

Plug-in Breeze on sale soon

Arriving for the Chinese market even sooner is the new Breeze PHEV plug-in hybrid, slated to go on sale in the second half of this year. Breeze is the name used in China for Honda’s CR-V mid-size SUV, albeit with slightly different styling.

Honda gave little away about the PHEV version, only that it was developed based on Honda’s original 2-motor hybrid system called Sport Hybrid i-MMD. This means the car “can be propelled by the electric motor or by the gasoline engine,” but what the battery size and likely all-electric range is – and what petrol engine would feature – are unknown.

Honda Breeze PHEV is scheduled to go on sale in China in the second half of 2021.

Honda’s Innovations website page suggest the Sport Hybrid i-MMD system’s plug-in hybrid electric-only range is 37.6km, but the US-market Clarity PHEV sedan claims a 76km range using a 17kWh battery pack.

Honda currently sells its Honda e all-electric city car in UK and Japan right-hand drive markets, but there’s been no confirmation of the little charmer making it to our shores.

Iain Curry

A motoring writer and photographer for two decades, Iain started in print magazines in London as editor of Performance BMW and features writer for BMW Car, GT Porsche and 4Drive magazines. His love of motor sport and high performance petrol cars was rudely interrupted in 2011 when he was one of the first journalists to drive BMW's 1 Series ActiveE EV, and has been testing hybrids, PHEVs and EVs for Australian newspapers ever since. Based near Noosa in Queensland, his weekly newspaper articles cover new vehicle reviews and consumer advice, while his photography is regularly seen on the pages of glossy magazines.