Honda e 2025: Price, consumption, picture, technical data.
The all-electric Honda e is a bit of a reality TV star. Under the bright lights at its unveiling as a concept car, it looked like a million bucks, but in the cold light of day, with its pajamas shuffling off-licence, the production version doesn’t have quite the same impact.
Honda E
Still, it’s a good try and certainly more visually interesting from the outside than the vast majority of other small electric vehicles currently on sale, including the Renault Zoe, Mini Electric and Mazda MX-30.
Performance and driving comfort
Around town
Short trips around town are what the Honda e was designed for, you’ll appreciate its responsive engine and tiny dimensions. The myriad screens stacked along the dashboard work well once you get used to them, although the two smaller screens at each end that replace traditional side mirrors can take a bit of getting used to.
Visibility is good and the steering wheel and driver’s seat offer plenty of adjustment to suit all shapes. Rear-wheel drive gives the Honda e an excellent turning circle and you can adjust the strength of the regenerative braking function or switch to one-pedal driving if you prefer.
All of this equates to a very relaxed and easy driving experience. Pressing the Sport mode adds some pep, but even in the default setting the Honda e accelerates smoothly and quickly. Most rough road surfaces are ironed out without fuss, this really is the perfect city-friendly daily driver.
On the highway
The Honda e is comfortable at the national speed limit, but its acceleration drops above 50mph and its limited range makes it less than ideal for long road trips. Still, it’s impressively quiet at speed, with very little wind or road noise entering the cabin.
On a winding road
There’s a certain ‘rightness’ in the way the Honda e feels when you drive it on a twisty track. It turns sharply, doesn’t lean excessively and rarely seems nervous on poor road surfaces. It may not be that quick, but that instant burst of low-speed power out of slow corners is very satisfying.
Interior design, infotainment and accessories
The cool twin-spoke steering wheel would make quite a statement in more mundane interiors, but here it’s literally overshadowed by a series of screens that run the length of the woodgrain-covered dashboard.
The overall look is all a bit 90s, but it works well and is a refreshing change from the usually drab interiors of small city cars. A pair of 12.3-inch touchscreens take care of the infotainment side, sat-nav, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard, along with an eight-speaker audio system.
You can also surf the internet while stationary and connect your games console to the screens, which isn’t necessarily an added value for your daily commute, but still a fun fact to tell your friends. You can customise the screens to suit your needs – fancy a virtual aquarium to feed your little electronic fish? The Honda e is happy to oblige. More conveniently, there are four USB charging points – two for the front and two for the rear.
Two smaller 6.0-inch screens located at either end of the dashboard replace traditional wing mirrors. They receive live feeds from small cameras mounted on each front door.
Equipped with a low-capacity 35.5kWh battery means the Honda e only has an official range of 137 miles between charges (131 miles with 17-inch wheels). The payoff for the lack of range is that a smaller battery equals a lighter car, which benefits ride, handling and performance. Another benefit is that you can charge to 80% in just 31 minutes using a 50kW fast charger.
The closest alternative to the Honda e in terms of range is the Mini Electric, which has an even smaller 32kWh battery but has a slightly longer range of 145 miles. If you really need to go further between charges, the Peugeot e-208 offers 217 miles and the Renault Zoe manages an even more impressive 230 miles.
Safety and security
The Honda e achieved a four-star rating in the Euro NCAP test. It achieved a decent 76% and 82% for adult and child impact protection respectively, but missed out on the full five-star rating due to a slightly below-average 62% score for vulnerable road users (cyclists and pedestrians) and a 65% result for the effectiveness of its active and passive safety equipment. For comparison, the Peugeot 208 (on which the e-208 is based) also scored four stars, while the Renault Zoe scored an abysmal zero stars.
