Honda Delivers First Fit EV With Impressive Performance

The first electric Fits from Honda have been delivered to Google, Stanford University, and the City of Torrance, California making good on the company's promise.

After announcing an electric version of the Honda Fit would hit the road in 2012, the company delivered its first units to Google, Stanford and the City of Torrance as a part of its Honda Electric Vehicle Demonstration Program. Participant is conducting tests to provide feedback about the electric vehicles, EV performance in order for Honda to continue its progression towards its own electric drive platform.

In order to better understand the inherent challenges and opportunities with electric cars, Honda is working to further the advancement of its battery-electric technology. It will then be in a better place to provide potential clients with a positive driving experience while making the EV platform a profitable venture.

Technically Speaking. Honda introduced its 2013 Fit EV at the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show with plans to begin leasing it. The Fit EV struck a high note with an impressive 123 mile range in city traffic, that is readjusted to 76 mile when combined with city and highway driving. All of this is delivered via a 20-kWh lithium-ion battery pack with a 92-kW coaxial electric motor. A completely depleted battery pack can be fully charged in as little as 3 hours on a 240V circuit, approximately twice as long on a 110V. By now, acute EV enthusiasts will remind you that an EV is never driven to a complete discharge, as much as no one should drive an internal combustion engine on an empty tank.

Why Is It Important? The Honda Fit EV comes in at an important time in history since Toyota is barely making its move into the plug-in hybrid, PHEV market by updating its decade old Prius. The company still hasn’t shown a pure EV product ready to hit the street this year, although the EV iQ shows a lot of potential. Honda has slipped behind after delivering the first commercialized hybrid in 1999 with the Insight and is taking the advantage to try to leap frog its competitor.

The Fit EV will be leased to a select California and Oregon market in the summer 2012, and an east coast delivery is planned for Spring 2013. The Honda Fit EV is a welcome addition to the electric car portfolio that exponentially increasing this year.