The Honda Clarity Electric is being killed off but the Clarity’s hydrogen fuel cell and plug-in hybrid variants will live on.
Honda’s Clarity Electric has always been a bit of an oddity since it was launched a few years ago in the United States. For one, it offered a truly dismal range of just 89 miles (143 km) due to a tiny 25.5 kWh lithium-ion battery pack.
In a world where consumers still have range anxiety and one where the likes of Tesla and Lucid are working on EVs with 400 miles (643 km) of range, the Clarity Electric was simply insufficient.
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What’s more, the Clarity Electric was never sold directly to private buyers and only available to lease in the states of California and Oregon. With the model now dead, Honda no longer sells an electric vehicle in the United States.
Autoblog reports that Honda sold 11,654 units of the Clarity last year but the Japanese automaker doesn’t break down how many of those were Electric, Hydrogen, and Plug-in Hybrid versions. It’s reasonable to assume that hybrid makes up for the vast majority of sales – after all, the hydrogen Clarity is only sold in California. In a statement, Honda spokesperson Natalie Kumaratne said the Japanese marque ceased production of the Clarity Electric at the end of 2019 and confirmed that new EVs are in the works.
“We’re continuously evolving our product portfolio, and right now, we’re placing more of our focus on the next generation of electrified products that are coming down the pipeline. We will be introducing new, highly appealing all-electric vehicles for the U.S. market in the years ahead,” Kumaratne said.
