While we wait for the New Year and ponder what has occurred in the last 365 days, the folks at Honda certainly have a milestone to remember 2019 by – this was the year that they built their 400 millionth motorcycle. That’s a lot.
This marker comes in Honda’s 70th year of making motorcycles (the Honda Dream D-Type went on sale in 1949), and it is an astounding achievement for the Japanese brand.
Talking at the company’s annual press conference and meeting, Honda Motor Company President & CEO Takahiro Hachigo said that the Japanese brand would debut an electric scooter in 2018, presumably as a production model.
Hachigo went on to say that Honda is working on creating what it calls a “highly convenient system for electric commuters” that includes detachable mobile batteries to facilitate quicker recharge times for electric vehicle users.
Big Red is said to be considering a partnership with courier service Japan Post to demonstrate its swappable battery system.
However, this news is not the first time that we have seen Honda exploring electric scooter systems for urban systems,, nor is it the first time that Honda has explored the technology for businesses.
It is not with great surprise that we learn today that the Honda EV-Cub is coming to market within the next two years. The news comes from Honda President & CEO Takahiro Hachigo, who said as much during his press conference today in Japan.
The Honda EV-Cub is of course the electric version of Honda’s uber-popular Honda Super Cub motorcycle, which is the best selling motorcycle of all time (roughly 87 million units were sold in 2014 since its inception in 1958).
The Honda Super Cub looks also to be getting an overhaul, with a new concept design making the rounds last year at the major trade shows.
For the Honda EV-Cub though, the electric scooter is part of a larger problem in urban transportation, especially in Asian countries where the rapid rise in the local economies is seeing more and more people on the roadways.