[car love]

Its easy to make fun of the emperor but hes the emperor for a good reason. Im not saying his is God's word but probably they know things we common folk dont know. Theres 250 years of gas reserves left in the world at current consumption rates and no one is talking about CNG for example. To humble me, electrification looks more like a current fad and driven by legislation rather than a worldwide oil/gas crisis which will trigger mass conversion. It may happen but i guess several decades away..

[locusjag]

I've driven like a possessed man through 2580 km, cutting across urban, semi-urban and perfectly rural areas down South in the past 10 days. We saw multiple rivers, lakes, rice fields, tea estates on mountains, ancient temples, modern pubs and endless plain roads - all the same. We passed through thickly populated areas and ghostly, dark and deserted roads - all the same. There are dead and dried bugs of various types plastered all over the front of my diesel car. And yet - there was one common denominator tying all those varied places that we went to; a humble petrol bunk in the middle of nowhere in which to fill her up in.

Pardon me if I tend to agree with the Honda CEO.

[DarthVeda]

Originally Posted by locusjag

I've driven like a possessed man through 2580 km, cutting across urban, semi-urban and perfectly rural areas down South in the past 10 days. We saw multiple rivers, lakes, rice fields, tea estates on mountains, ancient temples, modern pubs and endless plain roads - all the same. We passed through thickly populated areas and ghostly, dark and deserted roads - all the same. There are dead and dried bugs of various types plastered all over the front of my diesel car. And yet - there was one common denominator tying all those varied places that we went to; a humble petrol bunk in the middle of nowhere in which to fill her up in.

Pardon me if I tend to agree with the Honda CEO.

you didn't see any electrical lines?

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by DarthVeda

you didn't see any electrical lines?

Wow! I can see the light now. Where there's an electrical line, there's a supercharger, a nuclear plant behind the nearby woods supplying power 24/7, advanced battery cells lying strewn along the road with insane power density...

[saisree]

Originally Posted by DarthVeda

you didn't see any electrical lines?

Originally Posted by locusjag

a humble petrol bunk in the middle of nowhere in which to fill her up in.Pardon me if I tend to agree with the Honda CEO.

+1

Agree to the core. We are just at the beginning of this EV things and it would take at least a decade for us to achieve the perceived goals. Though we have electrified the length and breadth of this countries, we haven't invested in the charging infrastructure.

We will be ready to embrace this tech only when the charging time doesn't take more than 10 mins. Just like how we refill the fuel today.. This super fast charging tech is not ready for the next 2-3 years and I don't see any light there. All the researches are in nascent stages.

Until then, EV's has to be an additional mode of transportation for your city errands, but, not your mainstream car and we may have to agree with Honda.

[frewper]

Originally Posted by locusjag

I've driven like a possessed man through 2580 km, cutting across urban, semi-urban and perfectly rural areas down South in the past 10 days. We saw multiple rivers, lakes, rice fields, tea estates on mountains, ancient temples, modern pubs and endless plain roads - all the same. We passed through thickly populated areas and ghostly, dark and deserted roads - all the same. There are dead and dried bugs of various types plastered all over the front of my diesel car. And yet - there was one common denominator tying all those varied places that we went to; a humble petrol bunk in the middle of nowhere in which to fill her up in.

Pardon me if I tend to agree with the Honda CEO.

There are people doing exactly this today, in electric cars in different parts of the world. The hotels they stay at, has chargers, which tops up the battery to a full charge when they are sleeping at night. In the morning they have a 400 km range. When they halt for lunch they charge again at a supercharger which again tops off the battery in 30 mins. Again 400 kms of range.

Since 2580 kms that you did in 10 days, is an average of 260 kms per day. I am guessing the max that you may have done would be, lets say 700kms, which could have taken an extra hour of charging, which could have been achieved when you took the tea break anyways.

So as far as I see it, it is possible in an electric car. Yes it will take some time for the chargers to be setup here. But we will get there soon enough.

[landcruiser123]

Originally Posted by locusjag

I've driven like a possessed man through 2580 km.....Pardon me if I tend to agree with the Honda CEO.

I completely understand you. Even I did a trip to Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Park and I've highlighted my 240 mile route from my campsite in Death Valley to 29 Palms (which is a town near Joshua Tree National park.) There is no way I could have done that trip on any of today's EVs like I did in my friends gasoline car.

But such trips are rare and I wouldn't mind renting a gas powered car for a week. I don't mind replacing my gas car for an EV ($$$ permitting) in the USA. Gasoline cars will co-exist with EVs for along time. I'm willing to bet that fuel pumps will still be around as long as I live (I'm close to 25 years old now,) but gasoline might be prohibitively expensive. Would love to see gas stations converted to H2 filling stations where one can fill an FCV in under 10 minutes.

EV adoption is going to be more challenging in the developing world, but I foresee multi car households having EVs as in the next 10-20 years.

[Guru_GPS]

Originally Posted by GTO

It probably explains why Honda is out of tune with the market's needs today. The company isn't leading in any new technology either.

One more angle of this that I assuming - Being in an influential position:

• He is trying to soothe the nerves of petrol vehicle buyers with his words.
• He might be trying to influence potential buyers [petrol, EV alike] to stay with petrol and buy some more time for Honda for R&D.
• He might be trying to influence the market analysts' to think a new probability and buy some more time for Honda for R&D.
• He might be just delaying in accepting the inevitable change.
• He might be trying to create a lull before jumping into the EV space fully prepared.

I would like to be proven wrong and that his concern is a genuine one, but I also expect Honda to come fully prepared sooner or later.

[Nissan1180]

Originally Posted by car love

Its easy to make fun of the emperor but hes the emperor for a good reason. Im not saying his is God's word but probably they know things we common folk dont know. Theres 250 years of gas reserves left in the world at current consumption rates and no one is talking about CNG for example.

This is true. The number of EVs sold globally pales in comparison to normal vehicles.

I read about an interesting concept from China- cheap city EVs which cost less than 2 lakhs. Perhaps the way forward for mass adoption is through specific use cases to saturate markets where the conditions are right.

[Hayek]

Am shocked at the extreme cluelessness shown by the Honda CEO. But perhaps we should have realised that. Which was the last innovation Honda came up with? VTEC, perhaps 30 years ago. They were slow on hybrids (and their hybrids are materially inferior to Toyotas), slow on Turbo Petrols, still use lousy automatic gearboxes that suck power from their cars, and have failed to excel on interior quality too.

The fact is that in India, the electric car is the way to go. Almost all car users use their cars for less than 200 km per day on most days. Plug in hybrids could be used for others, but they are extremely complex - and will ultimately be far costlier than electrics with reasonable range.

No one put it better than Mr Narayan - this is a Kodak Moment

[kiku007]

What the Honda CEO and a couple of other BHPians are failing to notice is that there is a trend in the developed world wherein people have chosen their next car (mostly a replacement for one of their 2-3 cars) to be powered by electricity. It could be a BEV or a PHEV or a Hybrid but nonetheless some sort of electric powertrain.

Any carmaker who's not investing in electric-powered vehicles isn't doing themselves good.

Yes, the charging infrastructure in India needs massive investments but what we are forgetting to acknowledge is that every building has electricity supply and not petrol/diesel supply. Innovation in the charging space will help build the next wave of charging technology.

[GutsyGibbon]

Here is another gem from another Japanese exec. Women find it hard to charge an EV, so E drive with no cable (hybrid with gasoline engine ) is better.
https://europe.autonews.com/automake...k-track-europe

The fact is, the japs have lot invested in ICE tech, and are making a lot. They want to lie and deceive till they can sell their last ICE car.