Honda's Self-Charging No-Need-to-Plug-In nonsense.

Postscript added 28 May / 4 June 2022

... is a full, self-charging hybrid ...

No need to plug in
... so, there's no need to plug-in or plan a
journey around charging stations – it
generates power as you drive.

The Honda ads for promoting their 'self-charging hybrid' cars are highly misleading nonsense. The ad claims that their 'self-charging' hybrid cars have a big advantage above plug-in hybrid cars because you don't need to plug in. In reality, all power of so-called 'self-charging'  non-plug-in hybrid cars comes from fossil fuel. So, their 'self-charging' miracle hybrid cars are just fossil fuel cars!

Honda suggests the secret of 'self-charging' is Regenerative Braking.  This technique enables the vehicle’s kinetic energy (when it is in motion) to be converted back to electrical energy and store it in the battery. All gasoline cars completely waste braking energy as heat. So, for hybrids it is true that regenerative braking harnesses some of the energy that otherwise would have dissipated as heat. But no energy is 'generated' or 'created'. You cannot drive a Honda around the world by only braking! One can only brake when the vehicle is in motion. It is in motion because of an engine burning fossil fuel. So, ultimately all the electricity generated by braking comes from gasoline. The efficiency of the regenerative braking is at most 60-70%. Never 100%, certainly never more than 100%! You don't gain energy! You only loose less energy. You always have a net loss of range by braking. 

Above that, 'self-charging' without qualification suggests that the whole battery is charged. But necessarily only a small part of the battery is charged. Moreover, 'self-charging' suggests an eternal, unlimited source of energy. That's against the laws of physics. Honda uses the positive associations of the word 'self-charging' to hide the ugly fact that their hybrids are just dirty fossil fuel cars that need to be refuelled eternally.

Therefore Honda's ad is misleading, stupid and unworthy of a serious car manufacturer. Honda's ad is a statement against electric cars and all car manufacturers producing electric cars. What Honda does is telling customers half-truths and hiding the whole truth. Honda is obscuring the most important fact (full electric cars are the most climate-friendly cars) by an exclusive focus on a minor truth about regenerative braking.

And now the most stunning fact. Honda does produce a full electric car: the Honda e. Yes, a nice looking little car, but far too expensive for its small range of 170 km (105 miles) and its price. It costs 36.000 - 39.000 euro. The Renault Zoe ZE50 R110 has twice the range for the same amount. The Honda e would be a good buy 7 years ago. But now, Honda seems to be saying: please don't buy it! Indeed, according to the logic of the ad the Honda e is not a 'self-charging' car! It needs to be plugged in!

Does a self-charging car exist? Yes, there is only one type of car that is really self-charging: a solar car. For example the Dutch Lightyear One. You don't need to plug in to go! You may plug in, but you don't need to.

Dutch ad for self-charging Honda hybrids:
"Trade your Nissan Leaf for the new
self-charging Honda HR-V Hybrid"

On top of all that, a Honda advertising brochure in the Netherlands offered me to trade in my fully electric Nissan Leaf for a new hybrid Honda! This insane proposal proves a complete lack of knowledge of the reasons why people buy a fully electric car. What are they thinking? Of course an owner of a fully electric car never, never in his entire life would return to a fossil fuel car. Unthinkable. 

"De CR-V is een zelfopladende
hybride. U moet dus niet aansluiten
op een stopcontact of uw reis
plannen in functie van de
beschikbare oplaadstations. De
CR-V genereert zelf energie tijjdens
het rijden." (honda.nl)

 

"Gemaakt voor het milieubewuste rijden".
Designed for enviromental-friendly driving.

An additional false claim is that these hybrid cars are environment-friendly!  All non-plug-in hybrid cars are fossil fuel cars and bad for the environment, climate and your health.

Honda hybrid JAZZ CROSSTAR. Honda e:Technology

Conclusion

If Honda needs to promote its hybrid cars with nonsense arguments, those cars cannot be any good. Good cars don't need bad arguments.

Honda's is sending contradictory messages to customers: plug-in cars are bad, plug-in cars are good.  

Honda does not contribute to the solution of the energy and climate crisis. On the contrary.

Honda needs a sanity check. 

Postscript - Mitsubishi

28 May 2022

A few weeks later I got a insane proposal to exchange my Nissan Leaf for a plug-in hybrid Mitsubishi! What an idiots. An electric car owner never returns to a hybrid! They really don't understand the motivation of people buying fully electric cars!  In the ev-database there are no Mitsubishi fully electric cars. So, they are desperate to push their hybrids. Apparently, incapable of producing a fully electric vehicle.

Postscript - Toyota

4 Jun 2022

Toyota finally produced fully electric cars: a van and a passenger car! I spotted the first Toyota Proace plugged-in at a charging station in the Netherlands (4 June 2022). This is remarkable since even at this very moment Toyota advertises 'self-charging hybrid no need to plug-in' cars! The concept of a 'self-charging hybrid' car has been widely criticised for its misleading character.

 

update 5 Jun 2022: main text improved. 

 

Sources

This Wikipedia article about Regenerative braking is a good start. Honda did not invent regenerative braking. Regenerative braking has been in extensive use on railways in the early 1930s.

Norway Calls Lexus's Self-Charging-Hybrid Ads Misleading, Jan 28, 2020 

Honda.nl 

How TESLA Rescued Honda, youtube  4 May 2022. very interesting video. It shows that Honda is not able or willing to reduce CO2 emissions of its cars.