Honda: 30 Electric Motorcycles (and $3.3 Billion in Related Investments) by 2030

Big Red is gathering some serious funds and forces to push out a staggering 30 electric motorcycles, all of which will be debuted by 2030.

Let’s get into it.

The amount budgeted to accelerate the whole shebang is a taggerings ¥500 billion (about $3.3 Billion USD), with the following two stages of investments outlined in Honda’s press release:

1. ~¥100 billion between years 2021 to 2025
2. ~¥400 billion between years 2026 to 2030

Verbatim, we’re told the funds will be used to “maximize sales of electric models,” with the following goals: 

1. Operating profit margin of over 5% for their electric motorcycle business by 2030
2. Operating profit margin of over 10% for their entire motorcycle sector by 2030
3. Operating profit margin of over 10% for their electric motorcycle business for 2031 and beyond

In other words, if you were worried Honda was going to go full electric, you can breathe easy; even seven years from now, Big Red’s anticipates viral sensations like their rev-happy MT range, their sporty R category, and their crowd-hit CB/CBR families to be around, making money, for a while yet… though you’ll notice that even Honda couldn’t say what was in store for their ICE bikes after 2031.

Food for thought.

In an image connected to Honda’s press release, we see silhouettes of bikes no doubt lined up in anticipation of their own electrified debut.

The shapes include what appears to be a Gold Wing-ish machine and a chunky ADV tourer type, as well as a nondescript naked street number, a series of scooters and some sort of dual-sport dirt bike (a further reminder that Honda includes electric scooters under the “electric motorcycle” label).  

All of the above mystery machines will likely be included in what I consider to be the biggest Easter Eggs of this whole release: The promise of a 50% price hack for all current Honda electric motorcycles (note the wording) by 2030 (note the year).

Check out the official quote below: 

By 2030, Honda will strive to reduce the cost of finished electric motorcycles by 50% compared to the cost of currently available electric models powered by swappable batteries.” “To this end, Honda will adopt plug-in models, optimize battery cells, increase the efficiency of procurement and production through the adoption of common modules and increase production efficiency through various measures such as producing at factories dedicated to the production of electric models. – “Summary of 2023 Briefing on Honda Electric Motorcycle Business,” Honda Global. November 29, 2023.

Whether reliability ratings will remain as nifty as Honda’s current ICE ranges remains to be seen; bottom line, we look forward to seeing how the biggest motorcycle company in the world leads the charge to electrification (Minamoto). 

What do you think Honda has planned for the next handful of EICMA debuts?

*Media provided by Honda*