The first of the 10 electric motorcycles that Honda has promised has become a reality at the EICMA in Milan with the presentation of the EM1 e: an urban electric scooter that will be homologated as a moped.
Honda kicks off an ambitious plan unveiled earlier this year to offer 10 electric two-wheelers by 2025. With the year practically over, the Japanese manufacturer does not have much time left to fulfill its promise, so it is to be expected that some of these models are already advanced, as is the case with the EM1 e: the company’s first electric scooter which will arrive in Europe in the summer of 2023 homologated in the moped category.
On November 8, 2022, Honda Europe introduced the EM1 e: at the Milan International Motor Show, EICMA, as its first electric two-wheeler for European customers. The “EM” part of the name designation stands for “Electric Moped”. The “e:” is a common nomenclature worldwide that the manufacturer uses in all its electric vehicles, with the colon at the end for the case of two wheels: Honda e, Benly e: Gyro e: and Gyro Canopy e. :. For the sake of consistency, the formal name of the interchangeable battery packs that Honda powers all of these scooters with is “Honda Mobile Power Pack e:”.
The EM1 e: will not be available in Europe until summer 2023. Honda has already announced that this presentation at EICMA is only a preview and not a full and detailed launch. For this reason, the specifications that have been offered so far are very scarce. Only the autonomy that it will offer with each charge of its removable battery has been announced, which will be around 40 kilometers.
Although it is an amount that may seem small by today’s standards, it may be perfectly valid for the purpose for which the EM1 e is intended: which is urban. Even more so when the system it incorporates allows the exchange of batteries through the network of stations that Honda already offers in some of the markets where it sells its electric scooters. The main objective of these removable and interchangeable batteries is also that they can be easily transported and recharged in any domestic socket, either at work or at home, which allows you to have those 40 kilometers practically every time you start a trip.
The rest of the specifications, such as power, speed or braking capacity and the commercial program that will include price and availability are still up in the air. “The model is directly aimed at a young demographic group that is looking for easy and fun urban transport,” indicates the Japanese firm in its press release. “It is compact, flat-floored, with a toned-down style that marks its difference and unique identity within the Honda range,” he adds.
