Honda Motor Co. said it would launch an electric car and plug-in hybrid model in 2012 in the U.S. and Japan, joining the race to manufacture battery-powered cars in which rivals have already taken slight leads.
The launch of the plug-in vehicles is timed to meet tough regulations, including a new rule in California that will require three percent of an automaker’s sales in the state to be zero-emission vehicles from 2012.
Honda’s President Takanobu Ito also announced application of a lithium-ion battery in the next-generation Civic Hybrid in 2011.
Over the next year and a half, Honda will roll out a battery-electric vehicle demonstration program in the U.S. with participants including Stanford University, Google Inc. and the City of Torrance, Calif.
Torrance will receive a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle for evaluation by the end of 2010, and a battery-electric commuter vehicle will be introduced in the U.S. market in 2012, Honda said in an announcement.
Honda, Japan’s No. 2 automaker, now makes the Civic, Insight and CR-Z hybrids but had not previously given concrete plans for a plug-in or EV.
Japanese rival Nissan has already begun taking orders for its Leaf electric car, which is set to arrive in Japan and the U.S. later this year. Toyota is also planning electric vehicle model for 2012.
