Honda e:Ny1 Withdrawn from Sale in U.K.

Honda’s woes continue as it has pulled the only electric car it has on sale in the U.K. by quietly withdrawing the e:Ny1 from its website ahead of the launch of the Super-N electric Kei car expected for July deliveries.

At launch, the e:Ny1 offered an electric version of the popular HR-V compact SUV and it gained a lot of initial interest. However, customers noticed problems throughout the ownership experience.

In winter, there was a significant drop in available range with the car suffering with very poor efficiency. It seems Honda didn’t account for, or anticipate poor winter performance, something the original Toyota bZ4X also suffered with, but Toyota has since corrected with a major refresh.

Rapid charge speeds were also slow peaking at 78 kW, taking 45 minutes to charge from 10% - 80% on a DC rapid charger.

It also had a very high retail price and Honda was forced to offer periodic large discount events, significantly impacting residual values and catching customers out with heavy depreciation.

The infotainment screen was laggy and a few gremlins existed in the software. but, it all led to an overall poor ownership experience where it had the opportunity to excel, as it does with its hybrid and petrol cars.

Honda e:Ny1

And with Honda cancelling its joint venture with the new AFEELA brand when it was on the cusp of launching its first car, and it’s cancellation of its ‘0 Series’ program in the U.S., Honda is having a very tough time of late trying to establish a foothold in electric mobility.

But let’s not forget the utterly brilliant and significantly compromised Honda e, which was a B-Segment hatchback packed full of technology found only in luxury cars of its time. But it’s downfall was an uncomfortably high list price and a significant shortfall in range.

By not reworking or refreshing their EV offerings, nor expanding their line-up with newer EVs and much needed choice - as well as cancelling new programs - Honda has tarnished its reputation by literally giving up.

In contrast, Honda’s competitor in Japan has taken a different approach. Toyota knew they had to improve and they have worked hard to do so by improving existing models and introducing a raft of new models.
For Honda, the optics of their approach to EVs - compared to others - doesn’t look good.

Only the new Honda Super-N will be available, which is a tiny city car with limited range, albeit packed with a large amount of fun-factor and a good balance of technology. The price is, as yet, undisclosed, but promises to start below £20,000.

I’m unsure where Honda goes from here as its now evident that the world is shifting more towards electric vehicles, and Honda’s reputation at building them is tarnished.

Currently, Honda has no plans for new electric cars that I’m aware of, and it knows it takes many years to bring plans to fruition, by which time it could be too late for the Japanese brand as China establishes a very strong foothold in the U.K. with some great EVs and great hybrid cars at affordable prices.

———

About the Author

Graeme Cobb is a lifelong car enthusiast with a passion for writing about cars, EVs, industry updates and more.

You can find Graeme on 𝕏 at @graeme_cobb or YouTube @REV-EV.