Honda 0 Series: A New Approach to Vehicle Product and Production

TOCHIGI, JAPAN – In an attempt to make inroads into the nascent battery-electric-vehicle market, legacy automakers are leveraging iconic and best-selling nameplates to run on electricity only. Examples include Ford’s F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E, Chevrolet’s Silverado EV and Blazer EV, and a slew of BMW’s numbered-series vehicles.

Honda isn’t new to BEVs or immune to this name-dropping tactic, having introduced a Fit BEV in 2012. More recently, Honda’s Prologue nameplate debuted as a BEV alongside a resurrected Acura ZDX badge, both built on General Motors’ Ultium BEV platform and revised versions of the Chevy Blazer EV and Cadillac Lyriq. Now, Honda is starting from zero with it next-generation BEVs, aptly named the 0 Series that debuted at CES 2024 as two concepts: the sleek and sporty Saloon coupe and van-like Space-Hub.

A New Direction for Honda BEVs

WardsAuto recently traveled to Japan and Honda’s Tochigi R&D center to experience a first drive of a 0 Series prototype and get a deep dive into the advanced technology and cutting-edge production methods behind the automaker’s next-generation BEVs.

“From 2026 on we’re thinking about business models differently than our existing ones,” Honda CEO and chairman of the board of directors Toshihiro Mibe says during a media Q&A.

Honda transparent about 0 Series' objectives.

He adds that it’s not enough to simply create popular, best-selling Honda vehicles that run only on battery power. “We need a new direction for EVs,” Mibe says. “That’s why we created 0 Series.” But while he notes that Honda’s new BEV strategy is a radical divergence from the one for its gas-powered and hybrid vehicles, company executives emphasize that the automaker will continue to offer a wide range of powertrains. And in Tochigi we see firsthand how the automaker’s different powertrains will coexist with the new 0 Series BEVs and will even be produced on the same assembly lines. 

Reinventing Motor and Batteries, Reimagining Design and Production

Befitting a fresh start, Honda shows how it’s reinventing its approach to electric motors and battery packaging, which in turn informs the design of 0 Series vehicles and transforms the automaker’s production process. Honda calls it a “Thin, Light, and Wise” way of developing BEVs (pictured, below).

Thin and light are exemplified by the battery case, which Honda says is 6% leaner compared to those on comparable BEVs and is made possible using megacasting. Megacasting is akin to the gigacasting method Tesla pioneered to reduce production cost and complexity by replacing multiple parts with single large components and that relies on huge casting machines that can apply up to 10,000 tons (about 10 million kg) of pressure.

The megacasting machine Honda is testing in Tochigi creates up to 6,000 tons (about 6 million kg) of pressure to form the aluminum-diecast battery case for 0 Series vehicles and reduce more than 60 parts to five. Honda plans to install six of the machines at its manufacturing center in Marysville, OH, that will assemble 0 Series BEVs and batteries and serve as the company’s U.S. BEV hub.

Honda says using megacasting will reduce production costs 40% compared to conventional manufacturing methods. Honda is also employing 3D friction stir welding into 0 Series battery case production, which it says is a more advanced way to join metals and creates less heat and metal deformation than arc welding, further reduces weight and increases production efficiency.

Battery-Pack Assembly Line Revised

The batteries, which will be produced at a joint-venture plant with LG Energy Solution near Marysville scheduled to be completed by the end of 2024, consist of flexible lithium-ion pouches rather than more rigid prismatic cells. The battery-pack assembly line has been revised using what Honda calls a flex-cell production system, a highly automated process using robots to support changes in demand for medium or large battery cases and maximize efficiency.

Honda is also focusing on limiting degradation in its new batteries to less than 10% over 10 years to prolong battery life and therefore range. Toshihiro Akiwa, vice president and head of Honda’s BEV Development Center, says the automaker is drawing on data from 5 million Honda vehicles, mostly hybrids, to analyze and increase battery life. “We’ve been developing hybrid batteries for a long time and have a lot of expertise and lots of data on battery lifespan,” he adds.

Honda also is leveraging its experience with electric motor and inverter technologies through its decades of hybrid development to create compact and highly efficient e-axles it co-developed with Hitachi. Honda says it was able to reduce the inverter form factor by about 40% compared to previous versions, allowing mounting alongside the motor to save space. An added benefit of the condensed e-axle and a thinner battery case is the space typically needed to protect the battery is diminished, allowing for the 0 Series’ low-slung stance and extra cabin space.

Mix of Powertrains in Honda’s Future

While some automakers went all-in on BEVs just a few years ago – and have since recommitted to internal-combustion-engine and hybrid vehicle production as the BEV market softened – Honda sees a mix of powertrains in its future. “In North America sales in the hybrid business is good,” says Mibe.

“We’re going to have to diversity in powertrains and solutions to meet the expectations of customers,” Akiwa says. He adds that the production efficiencies being implemented for the 0 Series will be applied to Honda ICE and hybrid vehicles. For example, Honda is revamping its Marysville plant to produce ICE, hybrid and battery-electric vehicles on the same assembly line.

As part of the Marysville makeover, Honda demonstrated in Tochigi the use of a new Constant Direct Current Chopping (CDC) spot-welding technology. The new panel-joining method, which Honda says it’s the first to use in the auto industry, yields thicker and stronger welds with less splatter while offering improved frame rigidity and higher tensile strength with lighter materials. Although the technology was developed for producing 0 Series vehicles, Honda says CDC welding guns will be retrofitted to existing assembly-line robots to employ the technique on all vehicles no matter the powertrain.

Potential Partnerships

As legacy automakers have found it difficult to make BEVs profitable, partnerships have become a way to help lessen risk. Honda’s most recent BEVs, the Prologue and Acura ZDX, are the result of a partnership with GM that uses the U.S. automaker’s Ultium EV platform in Honda-designed vehicles. In addition to 0 Series vehicles – seven of which will be introduced by 2030, including the Saloon coupe in 2026 followed by five various-size SUVs and a sedan – Honda’s Ohio plant also is scheduled to produce the Sony Afeela, the BEV co-developed with the Japanese electronics giant.

While Mibe says Honda intends to create an “independent EV business,” Akiwa notes Honda has an existing fuel-cell vehicle project with GM. But Mibe is unequivocal on one thing: “Electrification of Civic and CR-V is not the case, and we need to create a totally new value.”