Honda e:N Coupe EV concept targets production within 5 years

Before the 2021 Wuhan Auto Show (which ran from 21-28 October 2021), Honda revealed the Honda e:N concepts during a virtual press conference held by the automaker also to announce the start of sales of its first two e:N series in the local market.

Honda e:N EVs

Honda eNS1 Honda eNP1 featured image
The e:NS1 and e:NP1 will be available for Chinese customers from spring 2021. All e:N series of EVs should have a range above 500 km Image: Honda

The e:N Series are pure electric vehicles from Honda, of which the first two are electric SUVs: Honda e:NS1 and Honda e:NP1 (essentially EV iterations of the second generation Honda HR-V), which will be sold by Dongfeng Honda and GAC Honda respectively, in the Chinese market from spring 2022.

Alongside, Honda announced three concepts called the e:N SUV concept, GT concept, and the coupe concept (with designs as their name would suggest), intending to produce them within the next five years. Altogether, Honda will introduce ten electric vehicles in China in the next five years. All e:N electric vehicles will also be targeted at global markets, with exports from China, Honda confirmed.

Honda e:N Coupe Powertrain & Batteries

Honda said it would accelerate its collaboration with its renowned alliance partner CATL towards sourcing efficient battery technologies for its upcoming EVs. The e:N Coupe and other forthcoming vehicles will use the e:N architecture, planned in two variants: e:N Architecture F (where only a front-wheel drive layout is offered) and e:N Architecture W (which can accommodate RWD and AWD variants with dual motor capabilities). The e:N Coupe could likely use the RWD W architecture to offer the driving performance and handling one expects from a coupe.

Honda eN Coupe Concept rear
The e:N Coupe could see different adaptions with minor changes between the two local JVs in China. Image: Autohome.com.cn.

All e:N electric cars in the top specification should have a range of 500+km (CLTC metric). For the production-ready e:NS1 and e:NP1, Honda uses a 53.6 kWh battery (revealed by the MIIT declaration). A similar battery capacity could be applicable for the low-riding model.

Features

Honda spoke a lot about its Honda Sensing 360 omnidirectional ADAS (driver assistance system), which will be introduced in China in 2022 and expanded globally. In addition, all Honda e:N products could get at a 15-inch Tesla-like portrait-oriented touchscreen system in addition to a digital cockpit.

Production

Starting 2024, dedicated EV production plants will be made by GAC Honda and Dongfeng Honda. Around this point, if Honda manages to satisfy sales in the Chinese market, it should begin exports of its China-made electric SUVs and cars too.

Featured Image from Autohome.com.cn