Honda's amazing turn around, embracing electric cars, at last.

The Honda EV concept
The Honda EV concept is stated for production by 2013

In the; "What A Difference A Year Makes department", Honda is impressing many with what looks like a full commitment to electric cars.

The gist is that it is hard to believe that once Honda claimed hydrogen powered cars where the way to go forward, lobbied against governments and that battery technology was immature for prime time use.  Of course, many retorted that neither was hydrogen whose future in the dubious role of storing energy for electric car was even further down the road and made little sense in the middle of this economic quagmire.  A few months later, Honda embraces pure electric vehicle, EV much to everyone's delight.

From Denial To Reality.  It is hard to remember that once Honda provided fun cars to drive that were very economical.  In 1988, the Honda CRX HF was a thrifty car to drive that got 41MPG in city driving and 45 on the highway.  Honda also introduced the revolutionary original Insight in the 1990's, but never refined it.  After decades of following the trend of making bigger, heavier and less efficient cars, this year the company went from downplaying battery technology and preferring hydrogen to committing to a real pure EV.  So what has changed? According to Electricnick, executives at Honda are seeing the global rising interest in fuel economy which is pushing the industry to look into battery-powered vehicles, as well as to meet the ever tightening requirements in the U.S. for more fuel-efficient cars. That means you, yes you consumers have helped many companies stay on track and block special interest groups from dictating their personal interest version of the future.

The company not only looks seriously at EVs but is also striking a brilliant move by embracing its own retro heritage as well as for an eventual electric scooter.  Let us not forget that back then Honda was a new company, fresh with a young engineer's love of racing in the 1960's.  And if you like those retro Japanese cars, take a look at fellow Examiner writer, Jim Cherry pick of 11 of the most significant Japanese classics.  That Toyota 2000GT is timeless.

Is Honda Serious This Time?  It is hard to say at this stage but it looks as if the company has realized the negative reviews and comments is has received with its blind push for a future technology that is still unproven.  While hydrogen holds some promising potentials, it is too far down in decades to positively effect our planet today.  In the meantime, we can only be thankful Honda is seeing the line and aligning its interests with its most valuable asset, its consumers.