Honda will start leasing its EV-neo Electric Scooter on Friday, December 24, 2010 to select businesses in Japan. They are leasing 100 scooters as part of a government-backed program to collect data about the scooters. The EV-neo can go for 34 km before needing to be recharged, which Honda measured at a constant speed of 30 km/h on a level road. The scooter is being marketed for delivery services.

To save the pizza delivery guy from a charge time of about four hours with the portable 100V charger that comes with the scooter, Honda has developed a quick charger exclusively for the EV-neo, which can fully charge the scooter in 30 minutes. They are also part of the pilot program for the recently announced Honda EV charging stations in Japan.

Honda promotes the scooter as green, clean and quiet. It’s so quiet that there is an optional pedestrian alert system on the scooter to warn pedestrians that the pizza delivery guy is hot on their heels. The base price of the scooter with tax is about $5900 US. The scooter with the quick charger is about $6850 US. Honda hopes to start lease sales of the EV-neo to general businesses and individual business owners in April 2011.

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Honda announced that vehicle charging stations will be part of a Japanese trail to further Honda’s goal of reducing CO₂ emissions through their products.

The trail will include Honda’s electric vehicles (EVs) including the Fit and Accord, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, (PHEVs), the new EV-neo electric scooter and the Monpal ML200 4-wheel electric scooter.

A current drawback of EVs and PHEVs includes the lengthy charging times.  Honda’s Fit EV Concept can be driven for 160 km before it needs to be recharged. According to Honda, it takes less than six hours to charge using a 200-volt power source.

Honda’s PHEV model combines an electric motor powered by a lithium-ion battery and an internal combustion engine. It can run as a fully-electric vehicle, a gas-electric hybrid, or as a gas-powered vehicle. In the all-electric mode, the vehicle can be driven 15 to 25 km before needing to recharge. Fully recharging the battery would take about 1.5 hours using a 200-volt outlet.

While it may be simple to charge an EV overnight in the garage, not everyone has a garage or access to an easily-accessible power source. Not to mention that it would be difficult to refuel in the middle of a trip. With stations that offer faster charging at higher voltages, it could allow drivers to gain full advantage of their EVs and PHEVs. Customers would be able to drive their cars for longer periods of time and go greater distances, and reduce their PHEV’s gasoline usage.

Honda will also test a communications system that allows drivers to search for the charging stations. The system will allow drivers to view how much charge the EV has left, and show a map that drivers can follow to the nearest charging station using either a smartphone or the built-in car navigation program.

[Honda]

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