Honda e review

Owning an electric car is something we’re all still figuring out - how we charge it, where we charge it, whether it has enough range to rarely inconvenience us. Every case study is different, so let’s stick to the facts. Plug into a normal three-pin domestic socket and the Honda e will take around 19 hours to charge up. Not great. Better to get a 7.4kW charging box installed at your house (assuming you have off-street parking) in which case a full charge-up takes around four hours.  However, find a 50kW or 100kW DC public rapid charger and it can charge up to 80 per cent in just 30 minutes. The choice is yours. 

One thing to bear in mind is that the higher-grade ‘Advance’ model fitted with 17-inch wheels (you can stick with the lower-grade 16s at no extra cost) has a lower WLTP range of 125-miles. Apart from the 18bhp boost and option of 17-inch wheels, the higher-spec model adds automated parking assist, the digital rear-view mirror and an upgraded sound system. 

Although not ready for us to have a play with on the launch, the My Honda+ app became available when first deliveries started in summer 2020. It has all the usual stuff – keeping tabs on your charging status, working out a route on your phone then sending it to your car, pre conditioning the car on a freezing cold/unbearably sweaty day – but it can also be used as a key to open the car and lets you send said key digitally so someone else can pop the locks when you’re not around.  

The tax-breaks, lower running costs, congestion charge exemption (if you live in London) with an electric car are all well documented, but if you run a company car it’s worth noting that from April 2021 you’ll only pay 1% BIK tax on a pure EV. Considering fleet sales make up more than 50 per cent of all new car sales in the UK, EV popularity is about to boom.