Honda EV Plus: Первый электромобиль без свинцовых аккумуляторов.

Late 1990s experimental U. S. electric car

The Honda EV Plus was an experimental electric vehicle which was the first battery electric vehicle from a major automaker that did not use lead acid batteries. Roughly 340 EV Plus models were produced and released. Production of the EV Plus was discontinued in 1999 after Honda announced the release of its first hybrid electric vehicle, the Honda Insight. The EV Plus served to test advanced battery chemistry in an electric car and also met California Air Resources Board requirements for zero emission vehicles, like the General Motors EV1. It also tested the pancake style motor, electronic control unit, power control unit and the Nickel–metal hydride battery (NiMH) later used in Honda hybrids and developed further in the first Honda FCX Fuel Cell Vehicles, which were rebuilt from returned (decommissioned) EV Plus chassis.

Honda began development of an electric vehicle (EV) in April 1988, inspired in part by the General Motors Sunraycer, which won the World Solar Challenge in 1987, and with an intent to meet increasingly stringent future emissions standards. The first electric vehicle team at Honda had just four people. At the time, Honda was the last automotive company in Japan to start work on electric vehicles. gathering test data starting in August 1994. Over the next two years, the fleet of ten CUV 4s would be driven for an aggregate 80000 mile (128747 km) in partnership with California utilities Pacific Gas & Electric (operating five) and Southern California Edison (three). These tests convinced Honda that lead acid batteries were unsuitable as the main storage for a production level electric vehicle. The CUV 4 had a limited range of just , prompting tweaks to the basic vehicle specifications that were later realized in the EV Plus, including battery voltage, chemistry, and motor power.

The EV Plus featured on board conductive charging with the Avcon connector, passive battery balancing, regenerative braking and deceleration, AC/heat pump climate control, HID headlights, 4 seats, and electrically heated windshield. The car was equipped with an oil fired heater for faster cabin heating and passenger comfort, but the heater was not operable until the ambient temperature was below to comply with California ZEV standards. The heater had an output of
Battery capacity was 28.7kWh; the battery weighed and occupied a volume of Using a 120V "emergency" charger, approximately 24 hours were required for a complete charge; in contrast, the 240V charger was able to restore 80% of charge in 2 hours. At introduction, Honda cautioned potential drivers that actual driving range was limited to
A race prepared EV Plus set a new record for electric vehicles at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in 1999 by finishing in 15:19.91. The special EV Plus, prepared and driven by Teruo Sugita, had been converted to mid engine, rear wheel drive and fitted with extra batteries.

The EV Plus was listed with an MSRP of $53,999, The lease cost included comprehensive and collision coverage, all maintenance, and roadside assistance. The EV Plus was first available to California drivers starting on May 14, 1997, with four dealerships (three in Southern California and one in Sacramento) offering the new model; eight were leased within a week of release. By December, only 79 had been leased. From May 1997 to July 1998, Honda leased 177 EV Plus vehicles in southern California. In 1998 additional dealerships were authorized in northern California. 15 EV Plus vehicles were leased to the University of California, Riverside as the basis of a car sharing program; on average, 100 trips per day were taken by faculty, staff, and students, with most trips lasting less than 4 mile (6 km). The final EV Plus was assembled in April 1999; in total, approximately 325 were leased to customers: 300 in the United States, 20 in Japan, and 5 in Europe. At the time Honda announced it would discontinue production, it promised to continue to re lease and service the EV Plus indefinitely. Honda allowed some customers to extend their EV Plus lease for a few years. At the end of the leases, all EV Plus cars were taken back by Honda, decommissioned, and eventually destroyed, shown on camera in a PBS program and depicted in a scene from the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? A few Honda EV Plus chassis were used as the base for some of Honda's first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle prototypes. The platform and drivetrain of the EV Plus were reused for the Honda FCX, a fuel cell vehicle. Instead of the high voltage traction battery of the EV Plus, the FCX used hydrogen stored on board in a fuel cell reactor to generate electricity. Then those prototypes were also destroyed.