Honda America CEO and President explains EV hesitation

Honda has been somewhat hesitant to commit to electric vehicles in a more aggressive manner.

America President and CEO Kazuhiro Takizawa, alongside Global Executive Vice President Shinji Aoyama, explained the reasoning for that, and we are starting to see some other automakers adopt a similar sentiment moving forward.

At Monterey Car Week, the pair of Honda executives explained that, while they may not be against the expanding interest in EVs, the consumers are not committed enough to justify an aggressive push for the sustainable powertrains.

Takizawa said:

“You can’t force the customer to change their mind, really, and to some degree [you can incentivize] them, but we can’t just force people living in, say, the midwest, with no charging stations. Even with incentives, they will not change from ICE to BEV. I believe it will be very difficult to force people to go for it. We need to prepare the ecosystem gradually and let them migrate little by little.”

Although there is an expanded interest in EVs globally, and the market share of sustainable electric vehicles increases every year, which Aoyama admits, they focus on the number of charging stations, which is what keeps them wearing cold feet (via The Drive):

“It’s changing. We’re closely monitoring the number of [new] charging guns per electric vehicle so it’s not a very rapid growth, but gradually and steadily it is increasing.”

Whether the decision is a good or a bad one is truly up to the reader. However, we saw Ford soften its stance on its EV commitment yesterday because of a lack of profitability. Ford was arguably the most committed legacy automaker to the EV movement and has established itself as the number two in the U.S. market.

Ford’s love affair with EVs softens as profitability and consumer trends take focus

However, it was having a tough time working toward a profit. It pushed back some plans and scrapped others, and although it still remains pot-committed to EVs, it is adopting a similar strategy to others.

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