Honda will launch more hybrids in India in the next couple of years; Hybrids to be intermediates before they go fully electric in the future.
Japanese car maker, Honda, has announced that they would be using hybrid vehicles as intermediates for the next two years before they go completely electric in the years to come. Honda expects that it will take some more time to establish supporting infrastructure like charging stations in India and till then, hybrids can serve as a good bridge between conventional cars and full EVs.
Honda particularly aims to support the government’s push for environmental friendly vehicles by offering more cars with greener technology and thus be a driving leader in this segment of EVs. As we have more and more hybrid cars which offer decent driving range in electric power alone, people will become more familiar with this technology and might actually prefer driving in EV mode for most of the times in the city. That, will do a lot in paving the way for full EVs in the future.
“Till such time and also till the development of suitable charging infrastructure in the country, we feel that hybrid vehicles can be considered as good intermediate technology in electrification initiatives. Accordingly, we will begin our electrification journey in two years with hybrid technology”, said Rajesh Goel, Senior Vice President and Director, Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL), to PTI.
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Currently, Honda just sells one hybrid vehicle in the country and that is the Accord Hybrid. Most brands are not much keen on introducing hybrid vehicles in India because under the GST regime, hybrid vehicles are put in the same category as high-end petrol and diesel luxury cars, thus attracting a heavy 28% GST with a cess of 15%. Honda, in the international market, has been on the fore-front in the development of environmental technologies for automobiles.
As per Honda’s Vision 2030, they plan to electrify two-thirds of their global automotive sales by 2030. They will have a full range of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEVs), battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and fuel cell vehicles (FCVs).
Also Read : Honda Will Continue Selling Diesel Cars Post BS-VI Emission Norms
On another note, when asked about the company’s plan to shift to BS-VI norms compliant engines, Goel said that,”Smooth run-out of BSIV vehicles and switchover to BS6 vehicles will be a key task during this financial year. HCIL will progressively introduce BS6 compliant models from the fourth quarter of FY19-20.”
