JAPAN'S big bike firms are clearly not keen to dive straight in to the fledgling electric bike market but Honda has joined Yamaha in confirming its intentions to make battery-powered machines in the near future.
In a speech about the firm’s future, Honda president and CEO Takahiro Hachigo today revealed that the EV-CUB concept bike shown in Tokyo last year will go into production in about two years’ time, although at first it will only be offered in Japan.
He said: 'We are planning to introduce the EV-CUB, a mass-production model developed based on the EV-CUB Concept electric motorcycle, to the Japanese market about two years from now and then subsequently in main ASEAN countries, which have been the largest market for the Honda Cub Series.
'Building on the Cub models, which have taken deep root in people’s everyday lives, we will strive to popularize the EV and reduce CO2 emissions.'
The EV-CUB has already appeared in twice in concept form. It was first shown way back in 2009 at the Tokyo Motor Show. A revised version of the concept, still looking very similar but with the ‘concept’ elements toned down a little, was unveiled at the same event in 2015.
In some ways the most exciting part of the confirmation of the EV-CUB for production is that it opens the door for Honda to simultaneously put the Super Cub concept that it showed last year into showrooms as well. Although not as overtly green as the electric version, the Super Cub concept’s wonderful updating of the original Super Cub shape makes it one of the most attractive scooters we’ve seen in years. A production version would surely offer near-100mpg economy, making it a pretty green machine itself even without battery power.
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