This Honda Urban EV Concept should be everyone’s favourite electric car

Honda has just unveiled the Urban EV Concept, and it’s going to be the electric car that finally wins you over. Honda’s latest project has the coolest styling I’ve seen on an electric car, and it looks like an old Peugeot, VW Golf and iPod, all mixed together. But the best bit? It’s coming to Europe by 2019, and Honda says it won’t look that different when it does.

Instead of a strange, overly futuristic EV, Honda has given us a car that looks like a classic, late-80s hatchback with a super-modern twist. There are rounded edges, clean lines and delicate curves, and the result is an EV that stands out without looking extreme. If Apple were ever to make an electric car, this is what it’d look like – with a notch of course.

There are some “forward-thinking” elements to the Honda Urban EV Concept, though. The Honda badge on the front of the car is backlit in blue, and it’ll also display greetings and messages for other drivers on the road – or even charging status updates.

[gallery:4]

Inside, the new EV continues to merge the old with the new, using rear-hinged coach doors along with bench seats for up to four people. Because it’s a concept car, there’s weird stuff too – like a dashboard screen that runs into the doors, and an AI concierge that detects the driver’s emotions. However, I’m hoping the broad strokes of the Honda’s interior design should make it to the production line.

[gallery:5]

Interestingly, Honda says the new concept would work with Power Manager, a new system for transferring energy between your home, your EV and the grid. It’s a little like Nissan xStorage system, and I’m hoping to get more details about it in the future.

[gallery:6]

Honda also says its new concept EV is also part of its electric vision, a new plan to make vehicles with electrified technology make up two-thirds of its new car sales by 2030. When Honda releases this Urban EV, it’s likely to hit that target much sooner.