For those who fell in love with the Honda Urban EV in 2017, it has been a long wait.
When this concept car was first unveiled at Geneva Motor Show in March 2017, it created quite a stir. Some thought the styling of the 3 door Honda Urban EV looked retro. Its simple lines were partly driven by aerodynamics. The designers were keen to minimise its drag coefficient. Its looks made a statement. This was a battery powered vehicle designed from the bottom up, not an electric conversion of an existing design. A radical styling departure from any other in the Honda family.
The more we learned about the car, the more the desire to own one. This will be a classic, a milestone. The first of a new breed of Honda battery powered electric vehicles.
And so we waited. And waited. Until March 2019 at the Frankfurt Motor Show, where the Honda e Prototype was launched. Now a 5dr car, trying hard to conceal the rear doors, flush door handles, 17inch Gas Burner wheels and neat pods on the doors that house the rear facing cameras. More aerodynamic that traditional wing mirrors, these pods project less than the flared wheel arches needed for the wide tyres. Although promoted as an City car for urban use, it was soon clear that 150 bhp motor would make this a fun drive on English rural B roads. We were sold. It was green, it is the future.
Driving electric had come a long way from the Honda Insight and the Honda EV Plus.
In May 2019 Honda were accepting Reservations. Deposit paid, the next milestone was September when it was converted to a firm order for the Honda e Advance.
The cheaper, basic version would not be launched for another year. At this point it was assumed that UK deliveries would be in the Spring – March 2020. In time the UK launch of the production car would slip to June, and yes you guessed it, we are still waiting.
Back in March this year, e’s were pounding the streets of Valencia. Enthuiastic bloggers uploaded tempting videos of the car in action, complete with edited clips of computer-generated visuals from the Honda PR machine. These were left-hand drive vehicles, not suitable for the UK.
Of course June soon came and went, and the world was immersed in the Covid19 pandemic. Although Honda Dealers in the UK were able to unlock their doors on 1st June, Honda UK had furloughed their staff, and were still enjoying their “paid leave” care of the UK taxpayers.
I don’t know exactly what happened between March and June, because Honda UK have made no attempt to keep their customers informed, either directly or via their website. Although I can Login to “My Account” the information there has remained dormant since September 2019.
To say that I am disappointed, feel let down, annoyed or angry would be an understatement.
I am LIVID. Because despite all the best endeavours of my local Honda dealer, and others sharing their enthusiasm for this cute car on social media, Honda UK have been silent. In an induced coma during Lockdown.
But there is worse to come. Much, much worse.
While their Japanese parent company were able to build the cars on time and ship them to Europe, and the build the right-hand drive versions for the UK market and ship them to the UK by June. Honda UK has failed to deliver.
UK Honda dealers have been advised that they cannot register their Honda e demonstrators. Although ‘e’s have been distributed to dealers across the UK, most are just sitting inside their showrooms. Yes, I went to Salisbury this week to sit inside one, which was nice, but I had expected, not only to be test driving one, but to be the Registered Owner. Driving it away on my Birthday to my garage, which has been empty since 15 June, when I sold my last ICE car.
Honda UK say we must now wait until August for delivery, because the cars require a software update. Of course this is another excuse, and not the main real reason for the delay. No, it’s not even due to Covid19.
The reason we are all waiting, Customers and Dealers alike is that Honda UK were asleep on the job. Despite having 3 years to get to their act together, there is a problem. A reason why these cars cannot be Registered and sold to customers.
It is called the Plug in Car Grant or PiCG for short. Which was worth £3500, when we placed our firm orders for the car, but it has since been reduced to £3000. Yes, the Honda e Advance is NOT yet on the Approved list of Electric powered vehicles that qualify for the PiCG.
I await a personal apology from the CEO of Honda UK, before he or she does the right thing and “falls on their sword” for letting us down. Yes, they blame Covid19. They blame their recent global cyber attack. But until they tell us more, I can only assume they were asleep on the job.
We are now learning (via Social Media of course, not Honda) that the software update may be related to Fast Charging / Battery Management issues. Although they claim the car could be Fast Charged in 31 mins to 80%, in practice some cars are limiting the charge rate at intervals at far lower percentages. Although this is good, in that it protects the battery, the charge rate slows down as soon as it reaches 30 – 60%
3 years is a long time to wait, and we are still waiting.
But maybe that’s the true cost of Honda e ownership – we have to learn to wait.
I wrote the above back in July, nearly one month on, it’s time for an update. Yesterday Thursday 30 July was a The Day. I finally got behind the wheel of the demonstrator! And, if that wasn’t exciting enough, there it was in my Dealer’s compound. My car, the 3 year wait was nearly over.
The Test Drive soon confirmed why the Honda e is the one for me. I could not believe the quality of the ride. Despite having ‘lowish’ profile tyres at 45mm, the ride was smooth. I didn’t notice the bumps, and imperfections of a typical British road, post austerity.
And it was so easy to drive. No gears, no shift. Just the odd switch from Normal to Sport mode, and a chance to try out the paddles behind the steering wheel, that adjust up to 4 levels of regeneration braking. The motor delivers powerful torque to the 17″ wheels, and Michelin Sport tyres. It took no effort to increase speed, although the display in front of me kept flashing 30, 40 or 50 to remind me of the limits. Once on the open road I was exceeding 60mph and the car just floated along. Not too much tyre noise, and of course no sound of an ICE power train.
So soon I was back in the showroom, signing my life away. Since my September order was placed, the residual value has increased by nearly £2000, so the finance deal was even more competitive, despite the PiCG grant dropping from £3500 to £3000.
In less than a week, I will be back to collect my Honda e advance and driving it back home. My empty garage won’t be empty much longer.
Driving my Honda e is a joy beyond my expectations.
It’s so easy to drive. Smart entry, allows it to power up and off you go.
I normally drive in One Pedal mode, which means I seldom use the brake pedal. Stop at the lights, and it applies AutoBrake itself. You can leave it in Drive, so you are ready to accelerate away. And accelerate it does.
It makes no effort, no ‘engine’ noise, or gears to change, the motor just drives the car forward. Ease off the Accelerator Pedal and it slows, or comes to a complete stop, when required.
I was never keen on Automatic gearboxes, thought they were inefficient and never quite felt I was in control, but One Pedal mode in the Honda e is quite different. Always in control, fun and responsive to drive, and efficient.
Road Departure Mitigation
The advance model comes with lots of tech. It has cameras, sensors and radar, and many of these built-in features provide assistance, especially when parking, and manoeuvring near fixed objects or other cars. The audio and visual warnings, and views from the front, rear and side cameras are very helpful at low speed. The car also manages to create a “birdseye” view.
However there is one Safety Feature where the jury is out. Road Mitigation Departure or RDM for short, is noticeable as soon as you take to the highway. It flashed up warnings more than once on my first Test Drive, and again several times on my First Drive home, when I collected my car.
Not only does RDM flash up warnings on the dash in either White, Amber or Red, it can also generate an Audible warning, and it takes control of the steering wheel. Save to say, when you are first driving the Honda e advance, and getting use to driving an electric car, these warnings can range from a “distraction” to “unnerving” at a time when you want to feel in complete control of your new vehicle.
Also when you have passengers in your car, they are likely to be anxious as to why your car is beeping at you, as you go around a bend?
Now the advance model has lots of other Intelligent features like Adaptive Cruise Control that can be set to follow the car in front. You can adjust the ‘Follow Distance’ and once set your car with adjust your speed to follow that vehicle and maintain that safe distance. There are other clever features that prevent you from driving into fixed objects or stationary cars at low speeds Low Speed Braking Control . You can opt to use Lane Keeping Assist, or Collision Mitigation Braking System, which are options you can control.
Learning to Live with RDM
As with any new car, there is lots to learn. And as the Honda e advance is packed with technology, touch screens, Apps and menu options, not to mention a very comprehensive User Manual to guide you. So we find there are 3 Settings: Early / Normal / Delayed* The default is Delayed, but there is no Off.
Fortunately there is a way to turn RDM off, and it’s relatively easy to do. But, and this is the big but, every time you Power Off and Power On again, RDM resets and switches itself on again. So if you prefer to drive without this “safety feature’ active, you must remember to switch it off, every time.
So the purpose of this Blog is to make a case, and hopefully a strong case, that Honda will listen to, so that they will introduce a software update that will either add an OFF option to the 3 settings, and/or introduce an update that ensures that if you switch RDM off via the Safety Config screen, it stays off, permanently until you decide to reinstate this feature.
A relatively simple request, for a relatively simple software update.
The City Car escapes on British B-roads
Of course the Honda e advance was conceived and designed as a City Car. But some of us could see that this compact 5 door Battery powered Electric Vehicle could also be fun to drive in rural areas on our B-Roads.
And this is possibly why we have encountered these issues with RDM. British roads are often windy, with lots of bends. The carriageway can be narrow at times, and more minor roads are not always marked with white lines. There are no hard surfaces like kerbs to detect. And these roads are often undulating. So minor Blind Spots are common.
Your cars radar, sensors and cameras are looking for lines and surfaces to detect the path of the road ahead. While you will be able to read the road ahead by using hedgerows, tree lines and overhead power lines, your car was never expected to read this type of rural environment. This is not an urban space with lots of Man-Made infrastructure.
And so it flashes up warnings. As you approach a left bend that it can’t see around. Or maybe a vehicle is approaching on the opposite lane, as you are about the take the bend, and it assumes you are on a collision course. And then of course you reach a slight hump in the road, which you may be able to see over, but your car “sees” a Blind Spot ahead.
Now sometimes the issues are more subtle. You are approaching a series of bends, you can see the road is clear, and you opt to take a racing line through the bends, which means you will stray close the central white lines, or might be close to crossing them. Now this manoeuvre could be considered risky, and perhaps some might argue that RDM is reminding you that you should be following all of the twists and turns of the road. But of course having made your decision, the last thing you need at this point is for your car to take control of the steering wheel, and flash up warnings and beep an audible one. This is not the time you want, or need these distractions.
So please HONDA let us have the Option
So yes, it would be nice to at least have the Option: to Turn RDM Off. And know that it will remain Off, until we decide that it might be useful on our next journey, which might be along a Dual Carriageway, Motorway or through a busy City urban landscape, where no doubt our City Cars will feel at home.
Returned to my dealer in Salisbury today, to have my eSIM and WiFi hotspot tweaked! The MyHonda+ app would not Generate a PIN, and therefore I would not Connect to my car.
Seemed strange to be returning my Honda e so soon. After all, I only collected it last Thursday, and here I am back in Churchfields. However needs must, and it’s all sorted now.
I drove home via the Wylye valley, the route I had planned to take last week, but it didn’t happen. This ‘back road’ from Wilton, via Wylye takes you through Stockton, which happens to have a nice pub – The Carriers – and in order to help the local economy, I decided to stop for a pint of Estrella.
After a relaxing break, I realised that I could try out the MyHonda+ App and ask my e to chill out for me. And it did. Nice and cool when I stepped in, even though I had it set on the Warmer setting. And as I set off once again along this narrow, windy back road, with very little else using the route, I realised the e and its One Pedal driving has made me a very considerate and courteous driver. It is so easy to slow down, pullover and take off again. And given the narrow lanes I was driving along, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Think Austria. If you have seen the pictures of a Honda e that was rolled on its first Test Drive, you will know what I mean. I did have to pull up fast at one point (White Van Man strikes again) so it’s great that my foot still knows where the brake pedal is.
Bluetooth Audio seems much easier to use than CarPlay. As soon as I set off my tunes were playing my soundtrack. And by now it was taking me back to 1970 Afton Down. Anyone else claimed to have been there? Jimi Hendrix “All along the Watchtower” and “Voodoo Child” testing the sound system.
I have owned some nice cars over the years, but I think my Honda e advance is the best yet. This drive was up there with driving my Morgan 4/4 down the Loire Valley in 1973, or driving my S2000 in Southern Ireland, where you can drive for miles without seeing other cars on the road. Who needs the ‘ego massage’ of a supercar. No, e static sums it up for now. This City Car is enjoying its escape to rural England.
I came across Suzanne Vega by accident. It was long ago, in the days of cassette tapes. I had set my Technics sound system to record the radio. Not sure who, Elvis Costello maybe. Early ’80s I guess. Anyway there she was. This wonderful voice. At the time I didn’t realise it was Suzanne.
Yes I would have heard “Luka” and “Tom’s Diner” in passing. But this time I was engaged and curious. Stories emerged and were told. “The Queen and the Soldier” especially stood out and grabbed my attention. I needed to hear more. CDs were purchased, and eventually we managed to see her perform live. Several times now, at the City Hall, Salisbury and once at the Village Pump Festival at Farleigh Hungerford, billed as Trowbridge. Always a joy.
We waited in anticipation. She was late. Her inbound flight to Heathrow had been delayed. Then she appeared. Straight into the set. Ever the professional. Lots of energy. Very precise. Impressive. You soon forgot about the delay.
There is something magical about live performances, in the right venue, they can be close up and personal. We saw Kate Rusby in the Memorial Theatre, Frome when she was very young. Just her and guitar. Then at Sidmouth Festival, out in the open, under the stars. A night to remember.
As was Robert Palmer at the Dome in Brighton, and Xavier Rudd much later, but also in Brighton. Eric Bibb on several occasions. The Wailing Jenny’s again at Village Pump and in Fareham. And then there has been Van Morrison, Beth Neilson Chapman, Mary Chapin-Carpenter, James Taylor at the BIC in Bournemouth. Listening to Juan Martin playing at The Anvil in Basingstoke moved me to tears. A stunning musician. And then we saw The Eagles play live in Birmingham. There have been many more. Jools Holland, The Waterboys, and Elvis Costello at the Royal Albert Hall.
Music has always been a big thing in my life. Since early days in The Folk Club in Wootton, Isle of Wight. The Isle of Wight Festival at Afton Down in ’70. The Nice in concert in Southampton.
Taking our son James to see Tunng at the Bill Chill, several Larmer Tree Festivals and that night in Sidmouth.
Listening now via iPod and iTunes brings back lots of happy times. 25,000 tracks.
Leaving the EU could prove more protracted than one might think.
These screenshots show a short article from The Economist.
I hope they don’t mind me reproducing here.
I recently joined The Labour Party in the UK, solely to register my support for Jeremy Corbyn, as its Leader. While I don’t agree with all his views and policies, I do admire his desire to bring a new kind of fair politics to Westminster, especially the way he conducts Prime Ministers Questions.
An approach that represents the views of the people, especially those on low incomes struggling to make their way in times of austerity.
In the last week 60,000 people also joined the Labour Party. I suspect that many, like me, stated their reason on the application form – to support Corbyn.
We don’t know yet whether we will have an General Election anytime soon, and it looks increasingly unnecessary, so I am not supporting Corbyn, because I see him as our next Prime Minister.
We are still part of the EU at this time, because we haven’t evoked Article 50. There are legal debates as to whether this is a decision that could be taken solely by a new Prime Minister, or whether it should be supported by a vote in the House of Commons and/or the Lords. There are majorities in both Houses for Remain.
So despite all the talk, the process is likely be slow and protracted, and just maybe we won’t drift away from Europe as far as some might like. The public would like an end to ‘free movement’ and to bring immigration under control, which is understandable. Some politicians, like Andrea Leadsom, claim that we can do this and still have access to free trade across Europe. We are getting so used to them telling us what we want to hear, that some people even believe them! This is naive.
As the Tories led us into this mess, they can lead us out of it. I hope Theresa May, supported by George Osbourne, can find a way to bring our economy back on course. Meanwhile without a Captain at the helm, we wait and drift slowly, away from Europe, towards Little Britain.
07 July update:
It looks as though Theresa will win. Well out in front with today’s vote. Let’s hope those in the Conservative Party at large choose the most experienced woman for the job. At least it won’t be Michael Gove!
Membership of the Labour Party has now reached 500,000. Not all have joined to support Jeremy Corbyn, it seems that Angela Eagle is determined to test the water. Interesting times.
Je Suis Charlie
WordPress.com prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.
This blog was viewed about 930 times in 2013. The busiest day of the year was November 20th with 50 views. The most popular post that day was Axafrica.
Click here to see the complete report.
And this is for a largely “inactive” blog. Maybe I will revive some content during 2014.
An update on HiFi / DAC / iDocks / Cables and Connectors.
And an update to AxAfrica – with new photos…….
And pay $30 for No Ads. I good deal, if start to use this Blog more actively.
I know that I have posted several blogs about Gun Control of late, but that is because there are excellent articles in The Guardian, The Economist and The New York Times, which I endorse. I look forward to your comments.
This extract from an article in The Guardian highlights how the domestic ‘love for guns’ in the USA helps to feed the supply of weapons worldwide. To read the article in full, follow the link below.
“Mr Obama’s initiative is important not just to Americans. It affects the rest of the world too. It is often forgotten that America is not just the world’s biggest consumer of weapons. It is also the world’s biggest exporter of guns. Last year the Obama administration authorised US diplomats to take part in negotiations about a proposed UN arms trade treaty. Such a treaty would need to pass the US Senate before it could come into force. This week’s fighting in Mali and the bloody siege in Algeria are another set of warnings of the dangers of an unregulated weapons trade. But they are also a reminder that the new political mood on guns in America has implications for us all.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/17/gun-controls-us-barack-obama
By WENDY BUTTON Published: January 18, 2013
the following below is an extract from:-
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/19/opinion/please-take-away-my-right-to-a-gun.html
“I had gone as far as to dial the number of the Metropolitan Police Department’s firearms registration division and begin the process. Then I stopped and put my BlackBerry down.
I remembered who I am.
I am one of the millions of people in this country who live with depression. I knew that in the gun registration form there would be a version of this question: Have you ever voluntarily or involuntarily been committed to a hospital? The answer is yes — voluntarily. But because my hospitalization was years earlier and I wasn’t in treatment at the time, I could have gotten a gun.
My depression appeared for the first time in the late ’90s, right before I began writing for politicians. It comes and goes like fog. Medicine can help. I have my tricks to manage and get through it. Sometimes it sticks around for a day or a week, and sometimes it stays away for a couple of years. But it never leads me to sleep all day, cry and wear sweat pants like the people in the commercials. You’d look at me and never know that sometimes my fight against the urge to die is so tough the only way I get through it is second by second; I live by the second hand.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 38,364 Americans lost that fight in 2010 and committed suicide; 19,392 used a gun. No one ever attempted to break down my door in the early morning again, but I had an episode when my depression did come back in full force in the early winter of 2009, after I made a career-ending decision and isolated myself too much; on a January night in 2010; and again in May 2012, after testifying in the federal criminal trial of John Edwards, my former boss. If I had purchased that gun and it had been in my possession, I’m not sure I would have been able to resist and would be here typing these words.”
posted on tumblr by kateoplis:
Now is the time for Americans to decide.
It is time for their country to mature and set an example to the world at large. To lay down their guns and stop assassinating people abroad with remote controlled drones.
The right to bear arms is a selfish desire.
blackrocket2000 