Honda e to the United States in Japan.

Isn't it about time?"

Kimura murmured from the driver's seat. . you little pussy.

We are on our way to Arizona. . We are now heading north on the Northeast Highway from the center of the city.

You're not in Arizona when you're on the Northeast Highway! . is a tsk, and rightly so. But in fact, there is a place called the Arizona of Japan. There is, in fact, a place called the Arizona of Japan.

This two-day and one-night road trip will take us to Arizona and other American-like places in Japan. The total distance traveled was over 700 km. The Honda e has a cruising range of 259 km (in WLTC mode with the Honda e Advance), so at least three recharges are required.

Participating in the tour are Sakurai, a writer, Kimura, an editor, and a photographer. The three old guys' traveling companion was the "Honda e." The "e" is, of course, the "e" in ELECTRIC. The "e" is of course "e" for ELECTRIC. It is Honda's first EV.

EVs are still not widely used in Japan, not only because of their performance, but also because of their infrastructure, such as quick-charging stations, etc. . What about the infrastructure, such as quick-charging stations? The aim of this project is to take a long drive and find out for ourselves.

It's time to recharge your batteries: ......"

Kimura mumbles again. We have already left central Tokyo and entered Saitama Prefecture . The battery still has about 40% remaining, but it is unknown how often quick-charging stations will appear in the future. . For the time being, we will try to charge the battery at Shobu PA (Kuki City, Saitama Prefecture).

Incidentally, the meter screen of the "Honda e" always displays the remaining battery capacity and cruising range, and the navigation system can also search for nearby charging stations. According to the information, there are an astonishing number of charging stations, and it seems that most of them are located at SAs and PAs on major expressways. So, as long as you keep in mind to charge your car frequently, you should have no problem traveling on the expressway.

Time for my first quick charge. The blue "EV QUICK" sign, which I had seen before, marked the charging station. The charging procedure is quite simple: connect the station's plug to the "Honda e" and authorize it with a special card to start charging. It takes about 30 minutes to complete 80% of the charge. As for the cost, it is 17.6 yen per minute, or 528 yen for 30 minutes. A fully charged car can run about 250 km, which is overwhelmingly inexpensive compared to a gasoline-powered car.

This forces me to take frequent breaks, so I don't get too tired after a long drive."

You are absolutely right.

Personally, I quite enjoy running while taking electric costs into account. It is similar to calculating fuel consumption in endurance racing: the faster you drive, the faster you are, but the more times you have to make pit stops to refuel. . The same goes for the trip in the "Honda e," where you have to make a plan based on the combination of electric cost and speed.

During the 30-minute break, we can use the AC power from the "Honda e" so we can work on the computer, and Kimura, who said he did not get enough sleep yesterday, is already sleeping. The air conditioning, audio, and all other functions can be used while the battery is recharging, so the car can stay comfortable, and it would be a good idea to use this time to have lunch or other activities.

From there, the trip was smooth. Acceleration performance was surprisingly high, and vibration and noise were kept to a minimum, so there was no stress at all when driving at high speeds. With one more recharging time in between, we entered Fukushima Prefecture.

I thought there would be more to it than that, but it's surprisingly normal."

Yes, that's right. . I was already in an easygoing mode. We entered the Fukushima Matsukawa PA with the feeling that we should recharge our batteries before getting off the road.

You don't have a station!

The tension in the car is quickly rising. With 36 km of range remaining, I want to slap my past self for not fully charging the battery at the charging station we stopped at earlier.

Let's turn off the cooler for now."

Kimura is already preparing for the war.

A search for a nearby charging station using a function in the navigation system revealed a station about 20 km away.

"If there's a breakdown there or something, the game is over. ......

From here to Arizona, Japan, it is 23.8 km by road, passing through the city and finally climbing a mountain pass. The more we climbed, the faster our batteries ran out. . but there was a downhill after the climb. But there is a downhill after the climb. Keep up the good work, Honda e!

With about half of our batteries left, we arrived at our first destination, the Bandai-Azuma Skyline, the Arizona of Japan. It was gassy and moist for Arizona, but the rugged landscape was by far the most un-Japanese.

After passing through Lake Inawashiro, the Lake Tahoe of Japan (this was a bit of a stretch ......), we arrived safely at the "Rakuten STAY MOTEL Nikko Kinugawa," our lodgings for the trip. After all, if you are going to stay at a motel on a trip to the U.S., it has to be a motel. However, it was not at all like a deserted motel in the U.S. There were no strange people hanging around in the corridors, and the rooms were spotless. The room we stayed in had a garage and a terrace where you can enjoy BBQ. Kimura was so excited that she rushed to the open-air bath.