Honda has no plans to follow rivals down the lithium-ion hybrid road

While Toyota and GM are putting all their hopes in lithium-ion battery powered hybrids starting as early as next year, Honda will be staying away from the technology for now.

Honda’s CEO, Takeo Fukui says that lithium-ion batteries are still to unreliable for mass production. “Lithium ion batteries are still not usable from our perspective,” Fukui told Automotive News in an interview. “In terms of reliability and durability, I must say there still remain some concerns. I don’t think they are necessarily best suited for mass-produced vehicles.”

Next year Honda will debut its dedicated hybrid which runs...
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silver1 - 3/24/2008 1:27:31 PM

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Un-believeable. Honda is scared that it don't want it's quaility to slip like Toyota's did, but you gotta start somewhere.

IhavearedS2000 - 3/24/2008 2:33:26 PM

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Starting somewhere? Yea, it's called the FCX Clarity...available to lease in selected markets in small numbers this summer, and Toyota will maybe have it for the Prius in a few years, maybe...

silver1 - 3/24/2008 2:42:14 PM

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I was pre-taining to the lithium-ion hybrid

IhavearedS2000 - 3/24/2008 3:11:39 PM

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Yes, I know - the FCX has one

silver1 - 3/24/2008 3:25:40 PM

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The FCX is not Hybrid

IhavearedS2000 - 3/24/2008 5:23:47 PM

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The point is, they started...if they can put it in a fuel cell car, they can put it in a hybrid - but they have decided against it for now - I think this is a wise choice...

IhavearedS2000 - 3/25/2008 10:43:03 PM

+1 Boost

I would not consider the FCX as being cheap at all, however, Hondas next hybrid will be 'cheap' so the general public can actually afford to buy and drive one. As a mainstream carmaker, that makes sense, now Acura on the other hand...

NItePhire - 3/25/2008 12:06:29 PM

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Honda always feels as though they need to do something different than everyone else. Which good in the long run because you will need different folks working on different things in order to remain innovative. I sometimes think that Honda does this type of thing so that if it is successful then they can say they did it first.

IhavearedS2000 - 3/25/2008 10:45:28 PM

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'I sometimes think that Honda does this type of thing so that if it is successful then they can say they did it first. '

Yea, they are kinda snobby geeks, lol, at least they have substance behind their engineering and not just a marketing machine...