Honda’s 0 Series cars will have drive-by-wire steering and ‘thin, light and wise’ construction – Top Gear

Honda’s all-electric 0 Series (that’s Zero, not ‘oh’) will arrive in 2026 with a saloon and SUV and grow to seven-models strong by 2030. “So what?” you’re thinking. “They’re about ten years late to taking electric cars seriously, and Tesla is laughing at them.”

The Honda fightback actually features some Tesla thinking. Drive-by-wire steering as seen on the Cybertruck – likely to be controlled by a yolk-style steerer too – has been confirmed. Honda says this is central to each car having a “sporty and uplifting feeling”, and “a sense of oneness between the driver and the vehicle”.

But robosteering is only one of an army of innovations the 0 Series promises to unleash. The cars are also promised to be 100kg lighter than previous equivalent Honda EVs, thanks to stronger yet lighter new platforms, shrinkwrapped motors/inverters and slimmer battery packs.

Yes, that means less capacity for charge. But it also means faster recharging, and if the car is lower and lighter, then a smaller battery isn’t necessarily a disadvantage. Which you’ll know, if you drive a Tesla Model 3 on the regular…

Here are the key numbers. Honda says the 0 Series’ inverters are 40 per cent smaller than what’s gone before while the motors have reduced frictional losses by 17 per cent. This alone accounts for 12 miles more range on every charge. Smaller drive units also mean a 30mm increase in cabin space. All that, just so you can have a stretch.

The battery case is 6 per cent thinner and instead of being made from 60 components, it’s fashioned from just five. Honda says because of the slimmer mechanicals, it’ll be able to devote more space to human beings in cars no taller than 1,400mm. That’s the same height as a BMW M4 Coupe.

And it’s not just being smaller overall that helps aerodynamics. Active aero shutters are said to add a further six miles of range per charge.

A more efficient heater will reduce winter power consumption by a claimed 13 per cent. Little gains which work together for a virtuous circle of ‘thin, light, wise’ electric cars.

The 0 Series will be based around a 400-volt architecture at first, with faster-charging 800-volt (as already used in various Audis, Porsches and Korean offerings) following later. What size batteries are we talking? Well, Honda says the bedrock of the range will be 80-90kWh, offering an EPA-rated range of around 300 miles. A 100kWh+ battery pack will arrive in later, larger models.

The first 0 Series car we’ll see will be a production version of the Saloon concept first shown off at CES in early 2024. Honda promises the gullwing-doored wedge, which looks like a Bullet Train left the rails and learned to walk on roads, will be “fairly close” to the design model.

Inevitably, there’ll then be a focus on SUVs. A compact one, a middle-sized one and even an XXL-three-rows-of-seats monster. Which doesn’t sound very thin or light to us, but we’ll reserve judgement until it lands in 2027.

Honda is also saying that besides the inevitable cleverer driver assistance features and autonomous driving modes all new cars must apparently promise, there are some upgrades for the 0 Series which are, y’know, actually useful. Stuff you might be grateful for. Like using the data gathered from five million current Honda hybrids to predict the battery capacity’s reaction to charging, and degrade by less than 10 per cent over ten years’ use. If you plan to finance one for a few years then chop it in, no biggie. But useful news if you’re a second-hand buyer, that.

The next, more realistic glimpse we’ll see of what the 0 Series future looks like will be at CES in January 2025, when Honda says it will unveil a new model that’s “the embodiment in production form of the technologies and electrification concept”.

We’ve been through the Big Book Of Car Company Jargon and believe this translates roughly to ‘stay tuned just after Christmas to see something close to a new-age Honda EV you can actually buy on Planet Earth’.