Your Future Honda EV Might Have a General Motors Battery

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

Not if you’re planning on leasing a Clarity Electric, of course, though future iterations of Honda’s greenest model could use what General Motors is pushing. Which is: a far more energy dense battery.

On Thursday, the two automakers announced a partnership to develop smaller, longer-ranged batteries for use in electric vehicles, primarily those sold in North America. Once the two achieve a breakthrough, GM will become Honda’s supplier.

By developing “advanced chemistry battery components,” meaning the cell and module itself, the automakers hope to market an EV battery pack with “higher energy density, smaller packaging and faster charging capabilities” than those currently on the market.

Because of a lack of battery room beneath its do-everything platform, the fully electric version of Honda’s Clarity sedan boasts a measly 89 miles of driving range. No wonder it’s offering such an attractive lease. While some products in the automaker’s EV pipeline, like the production version of the Urban EV Concept, require a small footprint but usable driving range to attract a younger, less affluent demographic, there’s a need for green family haulers with enough range to haul three kids and their crap to grandma’s house a state over. This typically necessitates a large, heavy, and expensive battery pack, plus a hefty MSRP.

Honda’s not alone in this need. Increasingly, automakers who haven’t invested copious R&D dollars into electrified vehicle technology are simply partnering with other automakers to make it happen. Witness Subaru’s fruitful pair-up with Toyota.

GM and Honda aren’t meeting up for a first-time tryst, either. The two automakers already have a joint manufacturing pact for the creation of affordable hydrogen fuel cell technology.

Executives from both automakers placed their names on a joint media release, emphasizing the most recent partnership’s goal of achieving nice-sounding things like sustainability and mobility. We love mobility around here.

[Image: Honda]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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 3 comments
  • Peter Gazis Peter Gazis on Jun 07, 2018

    No wonder Prius sales are falling so fast. People are buying the Subaru version.

  • "scarey" "scarey" on Jun 07, 2018

    Can I get a Lucas wiring harness, dashboard and gauges in it too ?

    • Art Vandelay Art Vandelay on Jun 07, 2018

      GM was putting reliable batteries in cars in the Clinton Administration...decades before Honda was settling class action lawsuits for Civic hybrid battery packs. Furthermore since the OG Insight Honda's hybrid offerings have not even been competitive. Honda would benefit here. If we are lucky that will source V8s and Stylists from GM as well. And I am a Ford fan saying that. Honda's are fugly.

  • 3SpeedAutomatic R&T could have killed the story before it was released.Now, by pulling it after the fact, they look like idiots!! What's new??
  • Master Baiter "That said, the Inflation Reduction Act apparently does run afoul of WTO rules..."Pfft. The Biden administration doesn't care about rules. The Supreme Court said they couldn't forgive student load debt; they did it anyway. Decorum and tradition says you don't prosecute former presidents; they are doing it anyway. They made the CDC suspend evictions though they had no constitutional authority to do so.
  • 1995 SC Good. To misquote Sheryl Crow "If it makes them unhappy, it can't be that bad"
  • 1995 SC The letters on the hatch aren't big enough. hard pass
  • Ajla Those letters look like they are from AutoZone.
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