Honda recently bared its plan to phase out gasoline-powered vehicles by the year 2040.
As reported by Kyodo News, the automaker expects that 40% of its sales in major markets will be comprised of battery-electric vehicles (EV) and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCV) by 2030, 80% by 2035, and 100% by 2040.
“These are challenging targets, and to attain them, we must put forth a collective effort of our entire value chain. However, we decided to set high goals so that all of us share the vision of what we are trying to accomplish and take on challenges toward the realization of our goals,” Honda Motor Co., Ltd. president and representative director Toshihiro Mibe said in a statement.
Honda is the latest vehicle manufacturer to make such a commitment. Automakers that previously announced their intent to go full electric include Ford, General Motors, Volkswagen, and Volvo.
Meanwhile, Honda is also aiming to eliminate road fatalities involving their motorcycles and cars by 2050. The company said that part of its plan is to strengthen their research on safety technologies which would allow motorcycles and automobiles to safely coexist.
“The major challenge we will face as we work toward this goal is how to eliminate motorcycle collision fatalities, especially in emerging countries,” the company said.
Since most motorcycle deaths involve automobiles, the company said that it will “strive to apply our omnidirectional ADAS (advanced driver-assistance system) to all new automobile models we introduce in developed countries by 2030.”
“By leveraging the knowledge and know-how we have amassed through research and development of our Level 3 automated driving technologies, we will further enhance the intelligence of ADAS, which increases the percentage of collision patterns covered by our ADAS,” the company explained.
Honda’s full-electric plan came on the heels of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s announcement that Japan is aiming to cut its emissions by 46% by 2030.
