Honda EV-N Concept: An All-Electric Throwback

It looks just like a Honda from the 1960s, but the EV-N concept's tech is totally naughties

By Mike Spinelli Posted 09.30.2009 at 9:44 am 8 Comments

Honda EV-N Concept: An All-Electric Throwback Honda says it will unveil its EV-N concept, an electric car that hints at the company's 1960's-era N360 microcar, at the Tokyo motor show this month. The four seater showcases Honda tech like a a solar panel roof, door-mounted personal mobility devices and the company's latest vehicle-to-vehicle technology that allows the EV-N to communicate with other vehicles on the road. Honda

The Honda N360 microcar was a modern marvel, sporting an all-alloy engine that could rev to 9000 rpm. The 360 cc unit only topped out at 45 hp, but at 1,100 pounds, the N360 could hit an astounding 81 mph. And that came in handy while sharing the highways of 1970 with Buicks the size of a Japanese prefecture. Now, Honda's recast the classic N360's iconic design as a thoroughly modern concept car, the EV-N. Though just as tiny, this concept was created with some of the company's latest e-tech.

The all-electric EV-N gets power from lithium-ion batteries that can take a charge by way of rooftop solar panels. It may not ever see production, but the EV-N does showcase a series of electronic-based technologies Honda's displaying at the Tokyo motor show under the umbrella term HELLO!, for Honda Electric mobility Loop. According to a press release, those include products that supply electricity, vehicles that run on electricity and products with innovative electronic technologies. HELLO! includes the company's EV-Cub electric motorcycle, a one wheel personal mobility device dubbed U3-X, that uses balance-control tech developed as part of Honda's ASIMO robot project, and LOOP, a portable communication tool that allows people and mobility devices to communicate with each other -- something others call V2V, or vehicle-to-vehicle communications.

As with most styling concepts, Honda says it has no plans to build the EV-N, or even a car that looks like it. But those looking to recapture the early days of Japanese economy-car ownership in the US may want to start lobbying the company now.

[via World Car Fans]

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8 Comments

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deegeezee

09/30/09 at 5:16 pm

it's cute, but i wouldn't want to be in one while sharing the road with an escalade.

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billdale

from Los Angeles, CA

10/05/09 at 2:22 am

Honda: don't let this opportunity slide-- you say you don't plan to produce the EV-N, but that does not mean you CAN'T.

You could have been the one car maker to step up for consumers 12 years ago during the California CARB debacle, at which time you could have had all the business, all the praise and all the trust that potential EV buyers would have been willing to provide, but Honda did not, nor did the others, and you have that opportunity again with the EV-N, if only you have the conscience and social responsibility to do so.

The stark lack of available EVs over the last decade has left some of us so desperate for guilt-free transportation that we converted our gas-guzzlers to battery power, and prompted us to activism-- for the environment and for our health, and to keep the billions of dollars here at home that we currently spend on foreign oil. If you continue to ignore the demand for EVs, you will only lose out to the likes of Tesla, Fisker, Miles and other new gutsy companies that will provide what is needed and wanted. It is within the realm of possibility that you, like GM and Chrysler, will end up in bankruptcy soon if you maintain your inflexibility.

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ford8n1

10/11/09 at 8:37 am

If Honda builds it at a reasonable cost I for one will buy it. In a way it reminds me of the Fiat 500 or 600. A cool cool car that should and must be built for the masses as a neat city car. Honda bring it on.......

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Regenspaziergang099

10/13/09 at 9:06 pm

Gorgeous! I think it might be successful

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billdale

from Los Angeles, CA

10/18/09 at 2:46 pm

ford8n1: I agree-- I drove two Fiat 1960 500s on a regular basis years ago, and they were among the most fun vehicles I ever had, constantly getting attention. I had a CHP (or maybe LAPD?) police helicopter circling overhead one day, for no reason that I could know, only to meet the pilot weeks later-- he dropped by my house... his name was Denny Rawlings, as I remember... he told me he had a Subaru 360, which was a similar tiny, odd car of that era, but with a somewhat temperamental 2-stroke engine. I'd be interested to see if Denny still has his little car, or what he may have done with it.

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markino

11/16/09 at 8:18 pm

After owning a MINI Cooper for three years, I thought I'd wait for the electric MINI; but, the EV-N is looking pretty good. One of my first cars was a Honda 600 and I loved it. It got rear ended by a Dodge muscle car going about 60 and I was going about 35, the speed limit. We got pushed through the red light I was slowing down for. My passenger got whiplash, but I was fine. There's no way to prove it, but I'd like to think that having a light car thrown forward was better than having a heavy car take the hit and me having to absorb the momentum. Only the plastic back door was messed up. The rear window survived. I'm a big believer in presenting a small target that's harder to compress than a big wad of sheet metal. I'm not trying to convince anybody else, but it's worked for me. So, sure, I'd buy an EV-N.

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