Honda e review: range, battery & charging

The Honda e offers a pretty short range compared to alternative electric city cars like the Fiat 500 and Ora Funky Cat, but it’s on par with the MINI Electric and the entry-level BYD Dolphin – although the BYD costs roughly £12,000 less than the Honda. Standard rapid charging capability also means the occasional long journey should be more than achievable. Cables for charging from Type 2 or three-pin sockets are included, and there’s dedicated cable storage under the boot floor.

The Honda plugs in through a socket on top of the bonnet, which is convenient for parking nose-in or alongside a charger. Honda has also ensured the socket area doesn’t fill with water when it rains, as there’s a drainage hole built in.

Honda e range

The Honda’s official range varies from 131 to 137 miles depending on whether you go for 17 or 16-inch wheels. Our Advance test car had 17-inch alloys and we drove it in wintry, storm-force winds and rain, including a lot of motorway miles, so we can say you should expect a range of about 80 miles in the absolute worst-case scenario, with closer to 100 being the norm in everyday driving.

We’d expect to see that in warmer conditions, even with a few motorway miles included, and it’s likely you’ll get close to the official range number if you spend most of your time in town, where electric cars are most efficient. That's more than enough for many people's daily motoring, but you can go a lot further without topping up in one of the rivals mentioned above.

Charge time

Most Honda e buyers will charge from a standard 7.4kW home wallbox, which will give you a full battery in just over five hours, while plugging into a standard domestic socket will see 100% battery achieved in under 16 hours. Unlike a lot of electric cars, the Honda doesn’t accept three-phase power, which includes any public AC charger or home wallbox capable of 11kW or faster.

If you want to top-up the Honda e any faster you’ll have to find a DC rapid charger with a CCS socket, which at this point includes most of the rapid and ultra-rapid charging points in the UK. Find one capable of delivering 100kW or faster and you’ll replenish the Honda e’s 35.5kWh battery from 10 to 80% capacity in 36 minutes. That’s on par with the Fiat 500 and MINI Electric’s rapid charging capabilities, and more than fast enough to make the Honda a perfectly viable car for the occasional longer motorway trip.

You can pre-set the hours you want the Honda to charge using the screens in the car, or on a phone app that also allows you to pre-set the interior temperature, check the car’s location, send routes to the sat nav and more. Your phone can even double up as the key if you wish.