Honda to go EV only by 2040 in Australia
Honda has set a deadline for the end of diesel and petrol sales globally, with the Japanese brand vowing to go EV only by 2040.
The globe, you no doubt know, includes Australia, which means the clock is now ticking in our market on everything from the Honda Civic Type R to the CR-V SUV.
Yes, 2040 still feels some way off, but you can expect the transition to begin far sooner than that, with the shift to an EV-only model line-up already beginning with vehicles like the Honda e. Note that hybrids of any type will be killed-off by then, too, with Honda promising its take on “electrified” includes only battery-electric and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.
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It means the ICE wind-down will begin almost immediately. In North America, for example, the brand is shooting for EVs and Fuel Cells to make-up some 40 per cent of total sales in 2030, with that number growing to 80 per cent in 2035, before being the only thing you can purchase by 2040.
We got a glimpse of just what that world could look like at the Shanghai Auto Show, where the brand unveiled its electric prototype SUV, simply called the e:prototype, which opens a window to the brand’s all-electric future, with 10 EVs slated to arrive in the next five years.
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. The first, though, will be the production version of the e:prototype, which is tipped to inspire the all-electric version of the HR-V.
What any of that means in Australia, in the short term, remains to be seen, with Honda yet to dip its toes into electrified water here, and with the brand’s cute-as-a-button e hatchback all-but ruled out for our market.
