Will Honda’s mission to make EVs less fat and stupid save the future?

So, it’s Honda. We’ve been asking for an age who would step up and admit electric cars are perpetually circling the toilet bowl in a doom spiral of battery size, weight, range anxiety and inefficiency. Which company would be brave enough to build a car that didn’t simply answer the EV’s issues by throwing ‘more’ of everything at the problem, and to hell with the ecological wear-and-tear?

Honda. That’s who. It’s been detailing the guiding principles of its incoming 0 Series of cars (that’s ‘zero’, not ‘oh’, by the way). And the headline is that they’ll be ‘thin, light and wise’.

Thin, thanks to a physically slimmer 80-90kWh battery plus shrinkwrapped motors and inverters, so the whole car can lie lower. Offer more space. Punch a smaller hole in the air. And go further on a charge. Virtuous circle, see.

Light, thanks to being, well, less tall for a start. Deploying clever new metal pressing techniques and ultra-high-strength steels equals fewer welds and adhesives. A slimmer battery weighs less too. And so the happy circle keeps turning.

Wise? That’s to do with how the car’s driver assist systems and AI make life easier. Finding parking, suggesting convenient charging, pre-conditioning the cabin in the least power-sapping way. Frankly we’d just settle for lane assist that doesn’t intervene like an angry headmaster.

It’s an honourably altruistic mission, and frankly the sort of ambition Honda needs because its recent forays into EV-selling have tanked. The e was cute, thoughtful and lovely to drive but far too pricey for its tiny 100-mile real world range, and the e:Ny1 is an afterthought with a typo for a name that sells slower than it accelerates.

Thing is, even if Honda does nail all of its tech targets, the world isn’t kind to clever, freethinking cars. Remember the Audi A2, the original Mercedes A Class, the BMW i3 and i8, even Honda’s original Insight. We all enjoy the idea of more space- and energy-efficient, safer, cheaper-to-run, easier-to-park cars that use space-age construction and materials. That doesn’t mean we buy them.

This means there’s an irony at the heart of the 0 Series, which will swell into a family of seven brand-new models by 2030.

Yes, Honda is trumpeting loud and proud that EVs are too tall, too heavy, too bloated. And its tech breakthroughs are going to unlock lower, lighter alternatives. Genius. We’re right on board. The power of dreams in action, people.

Except, if you look at the 0 Series roadmap, guess what five of the planned seven models are? Yep, you guessed it: SUVs. Including a giant three-row range-topper that’ll mix it against the likes of the Kia EV9 and Range [Anxiety] Rover.

Plus, though the 0 Series is stuffed with gains that trim flab here and add range there (check out the full list here) the fact remains Honda is aiming for an EPA-rated range of 300 miles. The same as the decidedly not thin or light Porsche Macan EV. A Volkswagen ID.7 is comparable too.

So is ‘thin, light and wise’ just hype? There’s undoubtedly cleverness here, and a refreshingly ‘less is more’ attitude from Honda. But it’ll have to immediately wrap all those breakthroughs up in a tall, urban-unfriendly SUV bodyshell, because that’s the sort of car the world is addicted to right now, while the range and charging claims don’t appear to be class-leading despite the ‘back to square one’ approach. From hero to Zero?