Honda Motor plans to release in 2022 a selection of fully electric cars that can run 240km on a single 15-minute charge. Most electric vehicles now available take at least twice that long to reach an 80% charge even using a high-speed charger.
Key to this plan is developing a new type of high-capacity battery that can handle the ultra-quick charging. The carmaker sources batteries for its electric-gas hybrid vehicles from Panasonic and others, but plans to create the new batteries in collaboration with a partner to be chosen later. A lighter vehicle body and more efficient power control system will ensure the new cars can go farther on a single charge.
Before then, Honda plans to release mass-market electric vehicles in Europe in 2019 and in Japan the following year.
Fast chargers in Japan now provide a maximum output of 150kW, but industry plans call for raising that to 350kW starting in 2020. Europe is expected to have a network of several thousand 350kW charging stations by that year. Honda's next-generation electric vehicles will take advantage of this faster charging infrastructure.
Nissan Motor's new 2018 Leaf will also offer quicker charging times than the current model and range 30% longer -- more than 500km on a single charge. The automaker has a head start on Japanese rivals Honda and Toyota Motor in mass-market electric vehicles.
There were 470,000 electric vehicles on the world's roads in 2016, according to Tokyo-based research firm Fuji Keizai, making up 0.5% of the total. That share is expected to climb to only 4.6% by 2035. By offering faster charging and longer range, Honda hopes to give its electric cars an edge with everyday drivers.
What new hybrid and plug-in cars are coming from Ford, which has been notably silent on that front since 2013? How does fossil-fuel-loving EPA administrator Scott Pruitt define the word "environmentalism"? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending on Friday, November 24, 2017. This... 
Tesla CEO Elon Musk made a bet that he'd build the world's largest lithium-ion battery in Australia in 100 days. If his company failed, Musk would personally pay for the project, but the battery is now ready for its first test ahead of full operation—and on schedule. The massive 129-megawatt-hour battery will plug into South Australia's... 
By now it's clear that the Trump Administration is doing everything it can to end U.S. government efforts to address climate change. Climate-science deniers sit in powerful government positions, language on climate change has been eradicated from websites, and the U.S. is now the sole nation in the world that plans to withdraw from the Paris... ![Estimated U.S. energy consumption in 2016 [graphic: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory]](https://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/estimated-u-s-energy-consumption-in-2016-graphic-lawrence-livermore-national-laboratory_100634001_t.gif)
One of the interesting side effects of plug-in electric cars turns out to be a greater awareness of energy sources and uses. A 2012 California study, for instance, showed roughly four out of 10 electric-car drivers either had or were considering solar panels to provide electricity to their home. And because electric cars everywhere in the U.S... 
Today, a possible plug conflict for electric cars, a redefinition from the EPA chief, a study suggesting Big Oil will wane, and our latest Twitter poll. All this and more on Green Car Reports. We'll be running a light schedule of stories for the next four days as we celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in the U.S. Meanwhile, we've still got... 
The latest study on the future of transportation paints an increasingly dim picture for the oil industry, though it suggests that the industry is in no danger of collapse. Instead, Big Oil will lose its dominance in the transportation sector over a 25-year period as electric cars and mobility solutions (ride- and car-sharing services) become more... 
When the first few thousand electric cars went on sale in California in the mid- to late 1990s, they used various different charging methods, each with its own dedicated charging stations. That proved an impediment to adoption, given the high cost of installing different infrastructure for different makes of car. For lower-rate charging, that... 
![EPA administrator Scott Pruitt [photo from 2014]](https://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/oklahoma-attorney-general-scott-pruitt-2014_100584650_t.gif)
EPA head Scott Pruitt will likely go down as one of the most controversial agency chiefs in that agency's history of almost 50 years. The former Oklahoma attorney general, who sued the EPA 14 times on behalf of fossil-fuel interests during the Obama administration, has a radically different view of how the agency should operate compared to most of...