Honda’s 0 Series EV Concepts Preview The Weird Future Of The Brand’s EVs

With EV hype at a roaring boil, one automaker has been conspicuously quiet over the past few years. As Toyota made all manner of bold claims about solid state batteries, Honda promised that its own dedicated-platform EVs were coming eventually. Admittedly, that’s not the most helpful statement in the world, but whenever Honda decides to get into a segment with its own product, it usually doesn’t half-ass it.

The first Honda EVs of the 2020s are set to be a hodgepodge. The upcoming Prologue will be a Chevrolet Blazer EV wrapped in Honda panels, which, yikes. The Chinese-market e:Ny-1 is an electric global-market HR-V with an alphabet soup name, and the Honda e, which we never got here, was an adorable dead end. However, at CES 2024, Honda divulged more details on its new in-house EV program, and it all looks promising.

First, the part of EV-dom that most automakers seem to be messing up — the name. Honda is calling its incoming EVs the 0 Series, which might raise a few eyebrows in Munich. Say what you want, it rolls off the tongue much easier than, say, bZ4X. The first glimpse of the 0 Series comes in the form of the Saloon concept, and it doesn’t look like any car you can buy new from a showroom today.

It looks like a dustbuster! Finally, a worthy adversary to the Chevrolet Lumina APV. In all seriousness, this is a radical, polarizing form, and I’d be genuinely surprised if the production car looks like this. The lack of side mirrors is completely unworkable in North America given current regulations around camera mirrors, the infinity-mirror nose and tail treatments seem wildly impractical, and I don’t see any way of opening the trunk on this concept. Considering Honda’s typical scheme of pulling the sheets off a barely-disguised production car a year or two before the model you can buy is ready, this 0 Series Saloon is uncharacteristically out there.

So, what lies beneath this new line of vehicles? While Honda isn’t divulging specs just yet, it is going heavy on guiding principles. The brand claims that all models across the range will embody the philosophy “Thin, Light, and Wise.” Could this be a return to classic Honda fundamentals? Perhaps, but it comes with a techie twist. Let’s see what Honda has to say about the first part of its mantra.

Augmenting design potential, including styling with a low vehicle height, and realizing excellent aerodynamic performance by utilizing a “thin” dedicated EV platform to create a low floor height.

If a “thin” dedicated EV platform doesn’t seem aligned with the 100 kWh mega-packs today’s flagship EVs often feature, you’d be right. In fact, Honda seems to be shying away from the more-is-more approach.

Based on time-proven electrification technologies, for the 0 Series models we will pursue outstanding power conversion efficiency, e-Axles with excellent packaging, high-density battery packs that contribute to weight reduction and space efficiency and the ultimate aerodynamic performance. This will realize a long range with the less battery capacity.

That’s a solid plan, seeing as stuffing more batteries into a car to boost range won’t fix long charging times. Less weight and excellent aerodynamic efficiency in the pursuit of using smaller battery packs might. It’s a sensible approach, but then you’d expect that from Honda. So, will any of these weight-saving measures potentially translate to fun? Perhaps, but don’t expect the ultimate connection. Honda plans on using steer-by-wire in the eventual production model, and the jury’s still out on tuning accurate force feedback and ratio adaptation. We’ll just have to wait and see.

As for the “Wise” part of Honda’s equation, the big tech buzzword of the ’20s is at play here. As per the automaker:

With the utilization of AI and big data, the vehicle will learn the user’s preferences such as music, as well as the driver’s behaviors and tendencies while driving, and will make various suggestions.

There’s a fine line between help and distraction, but given the seriousness of driving, there’s a chance Honda’s erring on the side of caution here. Oh, and in case you’re a van fan, Honda’s throwing you a bone with the Space-Hub concept (below), a name that goes so unbelievably hard, it ought to see a doctor in four hours or so. Sure, it doesn’t feature a rear window, but who cares? There’s a concept van called the Space-Hub, and that’s pretty damn righteous.

The crazy part? This wedge-shaped sedan and these bold claims aren’t far-out fantasy. Honda claims that the first 0 Series car is on its way soon, and that it’s not going to Japan first.

In 2026, Honda will introduce a model of the Honda 0 Series based on the Saloon concept in North America, followed by model introductions in Japan, Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East and South America.

Hey, that’s only two years away. If the production car looks anything remotely like the concept 0 Series Saloon, Honda could have another 2006 Civic on its hands — a radical, futuristic, unapologetic sedan that makes one hell of a statement. Let’s set our clocks and see how close things end up.

(Photo credits: Honda)

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