Opinion: Have the first Honda electric scooters missed the mark?

For a few years now, the casual word around the two-wheeler EV segment has gone something like this, “Yeah, all this is great, but wait till Honda enters the game – that’s when things will get really serious!” Well, Honda has just done so, and I think it’s safe to say that such lofty expectations haven’t been met.

When the Japanese giant first revealed its two new electric scooters for India in December last year, they were met with a subdued response. The range-topping Activa e: has the right sort of specifications in terms of promised performance and range, and it has swappable batteries on offer as well – something no mainstream rival in India has been able to offer yet. But it has two big drawbacks. The first is that there is no usable boot space because it is fully occupied by the two battery packs, and the second is that there is no facility for home charging. 

The second one seems like a particularly big miss because it means you can use only Honda’s swapping network, which is available in select cities. Moreover, the thought of lifting a ten-kilo weight four times (removing two depleted packs from the scooter and adding two freshly charged ones back in) once every 100-odd kilometres feels like a bit of a dealbreaker.

That leaves us with the QC1. Crucially, this one does have some decent boot space, but the claimed range from the small 1.5kWh fixed battery pack is only 80km, and with an incline gradeability of just 7 degrees and a low top speed of 50kph, the QC1 is underpowered compared to the mainstream competition.

At the time, I chose to wait till the prices were announced before forming an opinion. After all, there was the possibility of some surprisingly aggressive pricing that could offset these negatives – especially with the Activa e: because you aren’t actually buying the batteries but will be paying for a subscription pack.

Unfortunately, the prices announced at the Auto Expo were higher than we hoped: Rs 90,000 for the QC1 puts it just Rs 5,000-6,000 less than the entry-level iQube or Chetak, which have much better range, performance and storage space (only on the TVS for now). 

Things are no better for the Activa e:, which is priced between Rs 1.17 lakh and Rs 1.52 lakh, because the competition offers more at a better price, especially for the top model. And that’s before you factor in the subscription plans that will cost anything from Rs 1,999 to Rs 3,999 per month.

There’s no shaking the feeling that this is a disappointing first shot. However, that’s the key thing to remember – this is only the first step. More EVs will certainly follow suit, and they will improve on these shortcomings. Besides, Honda probably won’t be too stressed about this because, at the moment, its energies are mostly focused on taking over the top spot in the Indian two-wheeler industry. And that’s been the number one objective ever since it went solo all those years ago.

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