Honda has a long history of electric motorcycle development, which started with the CUV-ES scooter launched in 1994, followed by the EV-neo in 2009 and the PCX Electric in 2018.

I am sure that many people have seen the BENLY e: which we unveiled in 2019 on city streets because the Japan Post has been using it for its mail delivery and pickup services.

All electric bikes we have launched since 2018 have one thing in common. They are powered by the Honda Mobile Power Pack (MPP) swappable battery and have been very well received in the market because, by having the second battery charged in advance, customers can keep using the bike without waiting around while their battery is charged.

We want to make this technology more easily accessible to more customers, which also will contribute to the reduction of the environmental footprint of our motorcycle products. With such a future vision, we decided to work on the development of electric scooters designed for personal use.

Electric motorcycles are quiet and very comfortable to ride. I felt that this kind of mobility product fits well with our daily lives and is “just right” as a convenient means of transportation. This is how we came up with the EM1 e: concept.

Many of us on the development team are regular users of motorcycles and scooters, so by incorporating some of our personal input, we identified the specifications such as range, riding performance and output balance, which will make this model “just right” for people’s daily use.

Usage-wise, we envisioned people using it for short distance rides such as commuting to school, to a part-time job, or to the nearest train station.

The riding distance we had in mind was 10 to 15 km (approx. 6-9 miles) one way. When fully charged, the EM1 e: has range of about 40 km (approx. 25 miles) on city streets, so it should give enough range for the user to get home, even if they decide to make an extra stop or two.

We achieved the usability “just right” for most people’s daily transportation needs, which makes me want this bike personally.

Of course, the big difference is that this model is electric, so it does not emit any exhaust gases. Also, having less vibration makes it easier to ride and less tiring for the user, even during a longer ride. Another unique feature is its quietness.

Even when the user needs to leave home early in the morning or come home late at night, they can ride and park the EM1 e: quietly in a residential area, making it a friendly vehicle for our customers and people around them.

If you look at the foot area on the floor, you can see there is quite a bit of space. We developed packaging which enables anyone to be able to enjoy riding this scooter comfortably regardless of their body type and/or type of clothing they prefer.

The body of the EM1 e: was designed based on the U-GO released in China in 2021, but the position of the battery slot is different. For the U-GO, the battery was installed underneath the floor, but for the EM1 e: the battery goes underneath the seat, which enabled us to lower the floor.

Also, we were able to reduce the cost by commonizing some body parts. Based on our calculation, when it is used for more than four years the running cost of the EM1 e: will be lower than that of a scooter equipped with an internal combustion engine (ICE).

An electric scooter is so quiet that some noise, which would not bother us with an ICE scooter, bothered us.

With an early prototype, some of the exterior parts were vibrating due to the driving force of the motor and an uneven road surface during the use, and that vibration noise bothered us.

So, we devised better mounting methods for some exterior and other parts and reinforced the backside of such parts to increase rigidity to ensure quietness. It took steady work and patience to identify the source of every single noise we wanted to address, but we did it until we obtained satisfactory results.

I hope our customers will enjoy such fine tuning and the quiet and comfortable ride the EM1 e: offers, which represents the team's commitment to the pursuit of perfection.

As the assistant development leader, I coordinated the conducting of various tests. Naturally, there were times when opinions were divided among the team members. Every time that happened, we brought the scooter we were working on at that time to our company test course and took a ride, then we followed all of the necessary steps to reconcile difference of opinions. This was our way of practicing what we call the “Three Realities Principle*” at Honda.

Yes. For example, there were different opinions about what the upper speed limit should be for the “ECON mode,” a riding mode which features mild power output characteristics, that the rider can select with a simple switch operation to reduce battery consumption.

We had a lot of discussions to identify what speed would be “just right.” Some said 15 km/h or 20 km/h (9.3 or 12.4 miles/h), so the team members took the actual bike to the course and took a ride at those speeds. As a result, the upper speed limit for the ECON mode was determined to be 30 km/h (18.6 miles/h).

Throughout my career at Honda I have been working mainly in the areas of motorcycle body design. So, regardless of the power source – engine or motor – I believe that the “value of mobility” will remain the same in the future. We can apply technologies we have amassed through the development of ICE models on electric bikes. My goal is to continue developing new mobility products so that we can continue offering the value of mobility.

The essential difference from ICE models is that electric motorcycles require a balance between power output and range. When we increase the power, the bike can travel faster, thus we express the “fun” of motorcycle riding. But such high-power bikes use up more electric power, so the range will be shorter, thus “convenience” will decline.

Yes. Finding that balance may be a difficulty unique to the development of electric motorcycles.

In terms of the “fun” of motorcycles, I have a feeling that the quietness of electric models will create a new “fun” that ICE couldn’t have. For example, when two motorcycle riders are standing next to each other waiting for a traffic light to change, if they are on electric motorcycles, they can enjoy conversation without being disturbed by the engine sound.

In the future, riders might be able to communicate with each other without using an intercom while riding in tandem or as a touring group.

We developed this electric scooter model with a wide range of use in mind, so we would be happy if this model will be enjoyed by riders who are switching from their current bikes to this one, as well as new riders who were not so interested in motorcycles before, but who will try EM1 e: as their entry model.

Unlike ICE models, electric bikes do not require a stop at a gas station. The EM1 e: doesn’t need an oil change. So, we are hoping that people who were avoiding motorcycles because of the hassle of such maintenance tasks will readily enjoy EM1 e:.

The EM1 e: was on display at the JAMA booth in the exhibition held in conjunction with the G7 Hiroshima Summit, introduced as one example of electrification initiatives in Japan. We hope that the EM1 e: will be a model that creates an opportunity for more people to experience the joy of mobility using an environmentally-responsible product.

I believe that personal-use mobility products feature some exciting and uplifting elements such as making our daily lives more convenient with additional “fun.” So, I want to keep developing mobility products which make people's daily lives more enjoyable. That is my dream.

“I want to make fun bikes.” That was the passion I joined Honda with. But in reality, I have been working on development while thinking, “What exactly is the ‘fun’ I wanted to create?” So, while cherishing my initial passion, I would like to offer the “pure fun” of mobility to more and more people, by finding the good balance between “convenience” and “fun” for our mobility products.