- Honda reveals the specs for its Japanese-market N-One e electric kei car.
- It has a 29.3 kWh battery that gives it 183 miles of electric range, which is great for a kei EV.
- A version of the N-One e with wider fenders will be launched in Europe.
Japan’s best-selling EV today is the Nissan Sakura electric kei car, but Honda wants to dethrone it with its new N-One e, which made its debut on Thursday with far better specs. The Honda N-One has been around for over a decade, but only powered by combustion. This is the model’s first EV variant.
Honda still sells a gas-powered N-One, but you can easily tell them apart by the electric model’s unique boxier design with a squared-off face and unique rear treatment. But what makes the N-One e special is its 29.3-kilowatt-hour battery pack, which gives it a WLTP range of 183 miles (295 kilometers), which is a lot for a car with such a tiny footprint.
Photo by: Honda
That’s almost as much range as cars from one size class above, like the BYD Seagull, the Hyundai Inster or the small-battery Renault 5 E-Tech. But it’s worth noting that on the stricter EPA test cycle, that range would be slightly lower.
Its main rival, the Nissan Sakura, has a 20 kWh battery that only takes it 110 miles (180 km) on a charge. Honda doesn’t mention the N-One e’s performance, but, like all kei cars, it’s limited to 64 horsepower, which is just enough to make a car this size not feel slow. The manufacturer does mention that charging via the 6 kW onboard AC charger takes 4.5 hours, while DC fast-charging to 80% at 50 kW takes around 30 minutes.
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Source: Honda
What makes the N-One e unique is that it offers bidirectional charging with vehicle-to-load (V2L) and vehicle-to-home (V2H) functionality that can supply up to 1.5 kW to power any external device. And it can also act as a source of backup power for a house. V2H can even help lower your electricity bills by topping up at night when the rates are lower and then disconnecting from the grid and running off the battery during the day.
Honda says it hasn’t sacrificed interior space by turning the N-One into an EV. It notes that the battery pack it uses in this car is slim and doesn’t intrude as much into the occupants’ foot space. It should also offer a better driving position than the regular N-One, with its steering wheel having been moved 1.5 inches (37 millimeters) closer to the driver.
Photo by: Honda
The kei car version of the N-One e is strictly for the Japanese market, where 40% of all new cars are kei cars. Aside from the popular Sakura, it will also be facing a new and potentially serious contender in the form of an all-electric kei car from BYD. That’s the first-ever kei car made by a non-Japanese manufacturer, and it shows BYD’s intention to dominate the EV segment even in Japan, where electric cars haven’t quite caught on as expected.
There will also be a different version of the N-One, with bulging rally car-like fenders and a wider track, which will be sold in Europe and other markets. It was previewed by the Honda Super EV Concept that went up the hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this year.
Choosing Goodwood as the venue for the prototype’s debut is no accident since Honda says the production EV will provide an “uplifting, heart-pounding driving experience,” so we can expect it to be a bit sporty. It will be Honda’s second attempt at conquering the subcompact EV segment in Europe, after the characterful and fun Honda e failed to leave its mark, mostly because it was just too expensive.
The new model needs to put affordability first if it has any chance of succeeding in Europe, where the BYD Seagull (also known as the Dolphin Surf) offers a lot of electric city car for not much money.
