Japanese automakers sure screwed themselves over by only betting hard on hydrogen. The fuel's limitations were so easy to see early on in the development of the tech. I feel bad for all the workers suffering from the stupid decisions their leaders took.
this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2026
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I half felt that hydrogen was some sort of red herring to get green subsidies without encouraging competition.
Probably a bit tin foil hat of me.
It was absolutely a way to show they were working on green technologies that likely wouldn't pan out. There was very little adoption in the mid-2000s and they persisted over a decade later trying to push the same fuel with no infrastructure in place. It was designed to flop.
Yeah it always surprised me that a country with so many nuclear power stations would not go head first into electric cars
That was the Japanese government pushing a national industrial agenda.
What limitations were you thinking of?
Two things. Hydrogen is mostly refined from hydrocarbons at the moment so it basically doesn't break dependency on fossil fuels. I know greener alternatives like electrolysis is a thing but it's far more energy intensive a process. The second thing is that the hydrogen molecule is tiny. It can easily leak out of containers and lines which not only causes gradual fuel loss but can pose a significant fire hazard.
Thank you!
So disappointing. I've been a dedicated Japanese buyer for most of my life (my entire family, really. Maybe a couple dozen cars between Honda and Toyota) but I quit in 2016 when I switched to EVs.
Japan doesn’t even have 2% ev marketshare.
All EVs have only a 6% market share in the US. Lemmy is full of doom for these companies, but they are actually making healthy money, unlike EV companies. Tesla is dying, Lucid is rumored broke, tons of EV companies are gone. Y'all are not buying EVs.
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As a current Prologue owner, and legacy Honda owner family for 40+ years...
The Prologue was never a Honda. It is a Chevy with a Honda badge. It doesn't feel like a Honda on any way shape or form, and has all the downsides that usually come with all of the other fake Honda models over the years.
Also have had a Model 3 and Polestar 3 previously (as well as several other EV rentals) to compare EVs, and the Prologue is a mediocre EV at best.
I was looking forward to the new models they abandoned earlier this year, it seems like Honda just is wanting to give up any sort of competitiveness outside Japan.
Yeah, Honda is in a completely different boat than even Toyota. At least Toyota went all in on hybridization for decades now, where about half of their vehicles sold in North America have some sort of electrification, including some plug-in hybrids and full BEVs. Even though most of those are regular hybrids entirely powered by gasoline (and where electric charging only comes from regenerative braking), that's a robust global supply chain of batteries and electric motors that they've locked down, including for maintenance of the existing fleet, and can easily shift towards increasing pure BEV production (which it seems like they're doing).
Honda seems to have no plan for the future and can't seem to pivot. They're only at about 25% hybrid sales and don't have their own EV models even in the pipeline. Their core brand identity is lost.
The problem is Honda does not have a pipeline of raw materials to make batteries to be cost competitive with the Chinese.
Ironic that Honda is getting killed by market perturbation similar to the way they entered the world markets with the awesome original civic.
Honda had some interesting hybrids for a while, but they didn’t get good gas mileage like Toyota’s. It was strange. The CR-Z was a hybrid two seater, but the big ass Insight four door got about ten more miles to the gallon. The original two seater Insight was a banger though at like 50-something mpg. They should bring that back.
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Isn't that just a badge engineered Blazer?
Yes and the biggest difference is that the Prologue supports Android Auto and Car Play. The Blazer EV has Android Automotive.
Android Automotive does not preclude Android Auto / Carplay. Both are available in my Polestar 2 (which uses Android Automotive). If it isn't available in the Blazer, the blame lies with GM.
Even some other GM models with Android Automotive have CarPlay/Android Auto, such as the Cadillac Lyriq. They'll likely remove it the next time those get a refresh though.
Yeah it really pisses me off how every car company is going back to their own shitty infotainment because using android auto or carplay means they can't collect and sell your data as easily. Like fuck me for just wanting to have the navigation and music apps of my choice on my phone seamlessly integrate with my driving experience, I guess.
No one was buying their map subscriptions. They want that sweet subscription revenue. In the long run it’s just going to cost them customers.
The Prologue runs Android Automotive. In fact, it's listed as a GM model in the Play Store.
It ALSO supports both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.
The Chevy models however only support CarPlay.
Honda is struggling generally as a company so this is not a surprise. unfortunate though.
They missed the initial EV (and hybrid) wave, but I think they believe they can ride it out thanks to their motorcycles, at least until this new gen of batteries has matured.
That, and they probably lose a lot less sleep trying to muddle out the ever changing trade dynamics with the US. No need to sink money into yesteryear's EV tech when dementia Don has his finger on the scale.
I think their motorcycle lineup is stagnating too. Honda used to make cool new bikes that pushed the technical envelope and disrupted the market. They pretty much single-handedly killed the British motorcycle industry with the CB750 in the 1970s. Now most of their bikes are very conservative 'safe' bets. I guess they probably still sell millions of bikes every year though, particularly in asian markets.
Was hoping they’d bring back the Element with an EV option but unlikely at this point.
That would be a cool vehicle.
Wasn't a Honda in the first place
I have said it before, my 2015 Oddesy will be my last ICE vehicle, unless I get a project car for weekend drives or something.
So this will be my last "new" Honda, there might be room for an S2000 in my garage.
Love my Civic. If I was rich I'd convert it to an EV.
At one time, Honda had a whole line of Civic models. The Del Sol was particularly awesome.
The Del Sol was amazing and the 1990 CRX with the square back!
Oh according to Wikipedia the del sol replaced the CRX
It's not a lot better in the UK for Honda BEVs.
https://www.honda.co.uk/cars/new/electrified-range-2026.html
You have the Super N city car and that's it for BEV, rest are hybrid
I'm still disappointed America doesn't get the E/N :(
Looks like Honda is the company that will fail first or Maybe Mazda.
Honda E is cool af.
I never understood why Honda worked with GM to offer the Proluge. They have the NY1, which is based off the HR-V, but the damn vehicle is expensive too.
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