Image Source : China Visual

BEIJING, Sep 15 (TMTPOST) – The world's largest motorcycle manufacturer Honda announced on Tuesday it plans to roll out 10 or more electric models globally to achieve carbon neutrality for its entire line of two-wheeled products by 2025.

The company announced in April 2022 that it was going to stop producing fuel-powered two-wheelers around 2045 and shift its focus to electric, synthetic-fueled two-wheelers. Synthetic fuels are carbon-neutral fuels that are a mixture of gasoline and ethanol.

Honda's plans for the electrification of two-wheeled vehicles are in line with the electrification of its cars. The company plans to reach annual sales of 1 million electric two-wheelers in the next five years and 3.5 million by 2030, accounting for about 15 percent of annual two-wheeler sales.

Honda estimates that the current global annual two-wheeled vehicle sales are around 50 million units, with electric mopeds and electric bikes accounting for about 90 percent or more.

Because China is the world's largest market, Honda Motor will launch electric mopeds with top speeds between 25km/h and 50km/h and electric bikes with top speeds below 25km/h in China. Medium and large two-wheeled electric vehicles will be mainly sold in Japan, the U.S., and European markets.

In 2021, Honda's two-wheeled vehicle sales were 17.02 million units, accounting for 30% of the global market share and ranking first in the world. However, current annual sales of electric two-wheelers are only 100,000-200,000 units, accounting for less than 1% of Honda's total two-wheeled vehicle sales. It is difficult for electric two-wheelers to replace fuel vehicles in the short term.

Against the backdrop of the pandemic and supply chain tension, two-wheelers make a greater contribution to Honda's performance. The company's earnings report showed that Honda Motor sold 4.25 million two-wheelers from April to June 2022, up 9.6% year-on-year, and 815,000 cars in total, down 18.3% year-on-year.