BREAKING: Honda Activa Electric, Flex Fuel Honda Bikes Launch Plans, Battery Standardisation Plans Revealed

In a bid to realise its carbon neutrality plans by 2050, Honda has revealed a full roadmap of its upcoming launches and initiatives with a prime focus on electrification. There are three main takeaways from this announcement:

Honda Activa Electric Incoming:

Honda will be launching two EVs for the Asian, European and Japanese markets by 2024-2025. The company has shown a silhouette of two scooters, and one of them looks like the Honda Activa Electric. It will be powered by Honda’s swappable battery pack. In fact, the battery pack was already seen testing in the Benly E as well as on electric rickshaws. 

The Honda Activa Electric will be a mass-market offering that will rival the Bajaj Chetak and the TVS iQube Electric (base variant). On the other hand, the silhouette of the scooter on the left shows a sporty product, possibly loaded with tech and meant to take on the Ola S1 Pro, Ather 450X, Simple One and others. Something on the lines of an electric Grazia perhaps. Oh, and the company also plans to launch over 10 electric two-wheeler models globally by 2025, but most of them will be for developed markets. 

Going the ethanol route:

Honda Brazil already offers two-wheelers with E100 compatibility (100 percent ethanol). Taking a leaf out of that book, Honda will launch a range of E20-compatible models (80 percent petrol mixed with 20 percent ethanol) in 2023, and then E100 models in 2025. We reckon Honda’s new air-oil-cooled engine should be future-ready with ethanol compatibility. In our exclusive interaction with Jawa, we’d learnt that most modern engines are flex-fuel-ready; and that only the gaskets, seals and other rubber and plastic parts have to be swapped with corrosion-resistant materials. In fact, the Honda CB300R in certain markets is already E20 compatible, so it’s possible for Honda to update the 300cc naked with flex-fuel compatibility. Expect the 500cc range and above to get the same as well.

Battery standardisation and solid state tech inbound:

Apart from testing its swappable battery packs in auto rickshaws, Honda is also planning to introduce a battery sharing service in India by the end of this year. The company is also working on standardisation of swappable batteries with a partner in India. This move is in line with the Indian government’s plans of formulating interoperability standards for swappable battery powered EVs. Moreover, in March 2022, Honda partnered with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) to set up battery swapping stations across the country at HP pumps. 

Topping it all off, Honda is also working on solid state batteries for its upcoming electric motorcycles. That said, expect the new batteries to debut on high-end EVs, and then later on, on the mass-market ones. The company is also working on expanding its electric moped and electric bicycle range, and is working with the Vietnamese and Thai postal service in their respective markets. Hopefully, Honda will be able to apply its learnings here in India and introduce suchaffordable EVs here as well, should there be adequate demand. 

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The future certainly looks pretty exciting for not only Honda but also the Indian two-wheeler industry as a whole. Before full electrification, expect flex-fuel two-wheelers to gain momentum as they do not require as much of an engineering overhaul as compared to transitioning from ICE to EVs. This will be in line with the Indian Government’s roadmap of introducing E20-tuned engine vehicles from April 2025.