Will Honda Make a Clarity Ridgeline Pickup?
Despite optimistic tweets and statements from CEO Elon Musk, it looks like Tesla will not be the first automaker to produce the first extended range electric pickup truck in the U.S. Of course, anything can happen, but it looks like the Workhorse Group will get there first with the W-15, set to go into production later next year. With several utility companies and municipalities committed to buying W-15s, extended range electric pickups could find a niche with commercial fleets.
Who's to say that's the best alternative technology to use in pickups? From the looks of it, Honda may be in the best position to offer alternative-fuel pickup choices based on its line of Clarity electric vehicles.
The Clarity vehicles are the most technologically advanced and efficient vehicles Honda sells, offering three choices: fuel-cell (available now in California), plug-in hybrid and electric battery models (the latter two will be available later this year).
The Clarity sedans got us wondering: How long will it be before Honda offers these powertrains in other products, such as the Ridgeline? We hope it isn't too long from now.
Despite all the interest in electric vehicles, it seems like we're still far away from EVs becoming commonplace if companies such as Workhorse — which has never made a pickup truck before — are among the first to go into production with an electric pickup. When major automaker — one that has a well thought-out mid-size pickup — begins offering customers a choice of powertrains that includes electric alternatives, then we'll know EVs have taken hold.
It seems like it would be easier to install a new powertrain into a pickup than design a new truck. All Honda would have to do is apply the Clarity strategy to the existing Ridgeline lineup. And why not try it with the Pilot SUV as well? It would be great to have a full electric or fuel-cell powertrain options for a mid-size pickup. We're guessing some of those Honda buyers who waited for the new Ridgeline would pay a little extra for a more environmentally responsible powertrain.
Cars.com photo by Angela Conners
Comments
These technologies require very expensive crude oil to move forward in a big way.
Last year's discovery of 20 billion barrels (equivalent) in natural gas in Texas means that fossil fuels may be around for a while.
I don't like fossil fuels. America is addicted to oil. I prefer electric.
Hey everybody that looks like a SHAKY COLORADO HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
To be effiecent they would need to get the weight down for them to get any type of mileage on a charge, let alone haul a load or trailer.
I'm excited to see how the new battery technology works out with the Glass lithium battery. Sounds very promising and could be a huge step forward for electric vehicles. Electric vehicles will never be mainstream without some kind of breakthrough and it sounds like that breakthrough may be here. The current batteries are just too heavy and expensive. The glass battery could change all that.
Just tax the hell out of fossil fuel and electric vehicles will take hold. The added benefit would be clean air to breath.
I have an 06 ridgeline and love it. I just took it in for a timing system replacement and with a good look at it. Only a few things needed some love. I don't have a car payment. And drive a well made truck. And yes I pull a 3500 lb travel trailer. It's a wonderful vehicle.
Just tax the hell out of fossil fuel and electric vehicles will take hold. The added benefit would be clean air to breath.
Posted by: uglyfords
@uglyfords
Why not just ride a bicycle?
@Jeff S Ugly Ford, Where does electricity come from?
Answer: fossil fuels.
@ Mark - Never heard of Hydro Electric , it comes from the energy of water. Have you ever heard of the Hover Dam ?
Whats the square root of useless? A Honda Ridgeline.
This joke ranks right up there with El Caminos. Maybe they
can use them driving around LA delivering tofu pizzas.
It might be good for hauling a Schwinn around Mulholland
Drive but for the rest of America, thanks but no thanks....
Someone other than elon musk needs to get into electric vehicle production. Tesla's biz plan is to cherry pick the wealthy but even that show little chance of real profits and that's with large fed/state tax breaks. The technology needs to be mainstreamed for high quantity and low cost but it won't happen anytime soon with Elon Musk's biz plan.
I'd love to be able to drive an electric pickup and charge the batteries overnight while connected to my solar powered home. But Musk's idea of a solar powered home is equivalent to an $80k Tesla on your roof. Once again, there aren't many that can swing that.
I think fossil fuels will be around for sometime until alternative fuel gains all the versatility that fossil fuels have. But I think there is one important role for fossil fuels, to provide the research money to fully develop alternative fuels through properly directed taxes on fossil fuels. Don't confuse alternative fuels with alternative facts, alternative fuels are a reality we need to prepare for.
Hydro electric only accounts for about 5% of our electricity.
"We're guessing some of those Honda buyers who waited for the new Ridgeline would pay a little extra for a more environmentally responsible powertrain."
"Environmentally responsible"? Really? What is environmentally responsible about a vehicle that is so high tech that it is declared by insurance companies to be a total loss from a fender bender accident, --- and requires all that "saved" energy to make another one? (^_^)...
But yes, I would vote for H2 Fuel-Cell (under duress) although for environments outside of CA, a near-zero emissions CNG* Honda Ridgeline might be best...
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* Which need not be fossil-fuel dependent. Check the Audi "E-gas" Project, converting sea water to H2 to CH44 (methane):
http://www.autoblog.com/2013/07/08/audi-opens-renewable-energy-e-gas-plant-in-germany/
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Think of the extra fossil fuels the power companies will have to use in order to make all this extra electricity. I don't think the wind mills will make enough power even then theirs a large amount of fossil fuels that goes into making and transporting large wind mill sections.
I've owned three pickup trucks, with my favorite being the Ranger that I owned for most of my 20s.
I've test driven the Ridgeline, and I loved it. It fixed every shortcoming of my Ranger, without introducing any of the annoyances of the F-150 I owned.
The problem is that I'm an EV enthusiast, and a Tesla Model 3 reservation holder. No plug, no sale.
If Honda were to make a Ridgeline or Pilot EV (or plugin hybrid with 30+ miles and a trailer hitch), I'd buy it.
Honda seems pretty committed to having a hybrid Ridgeline by 2019.
They've had the Clarity technology running over in Japan for a while now. Honda was pushing the concept of powering homes off of one of the hybrid concepts, at least in Japan. If this carries over to a truck that can provide electricity at a campsite, worksite, or home during a power outage, Honda could have a real winner here.
As long as fossil fuels are cheap and reliable, the investment resources for developing EV and nex-gen Hybrid powertrains just isn't there.
It becomes a specialty marketplace that's only suited for cities where air pollution is a big problem---Mexico City, Beijing, LA...
The rest of the world's residents want reliable and cheap propulsion. Many parts of the world rely on IC powered vehicles to deliver food to market. Do you think those populations are ready to go hungry just to support the Green cause?
"@ Mark - Never heard of Hydro Electric , it comes from the energy of water. Have you ever heard of the Hover Dam ?"
It is "Hoover Dam", the lake behind it got so low last year that Los Vegas is seriously worried about giving out of water and there is not nearly enough hydro in this county to meet our electrical needs. And if that is not enough, there are a lot of activist trying to get some of the major hydro plants and dams torn down to restore the natural environment. Dams have done a lot of damage to the salmon population amongst other things.
How weird that people don't see the writing on the wall. There are many reasons electric is the future. Torque, speed, efficiency, ecology. Why the love for an outdated system, other than nostalgia? Show me the real numbers.
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