I got to drive one today. It's a pre-production unit, but the fit and finish seemed quite well done.
(I don't like to ramble, but I gathered so much info that I may...)
Car: I liked that the eco/normal/sport mode buttons were top level. The dash displays changed color depending on mode (sport was a cool red!). The power flow meter was a nice big analog dial (*). I didn't play with HVAC at all (was concentrating on trying al three driving modes!) but the interior seemed pretty straight forward econo-box to me. In Sport mode, acceleration was reasonable (I've got a high bar ;-) and chirped the tires (FWD) - so I asked, and yes, it's got traction control. Steering was tight and competent. The batteries are under the floor, so F/R balance is good and the car seems sure-footed. It was a very short drive, so I didn't get a chance to look at the displays much. Go pedal response is nice and low-latency like for all EVs, which is top-of-the-class in this car's segment. The battery is a bit small, and I was getting ~250wH/mi (the internal display is in mi/kWh - makes it easy to do your own miles left calc, I guess, if, unlike most Americans, you can actually do math in your head - I had no highway miles, predefined 5 minute course). Blended braking program (stupid automatic slushboxes have ruined what people expect, gah...). (*) In spite of the big power gauge, I could not tell when I had maxed out regen and had dipped into friction (augh!). I think all the rationalizations for blended are all bogus...
Yes, it's lease to start with - they want battery data and so this is their toe in the water. 'From things I've gathered' it seems like Honda really did expect hydrogen to go better, and so are caught a little short on battery tech and knowledge. The battery under the floor raises things a bit - headroom is the same, so the car is slightly taller than it's non-EV cousin, but it's still shorter than the Leaf (not sure compared to the Focus EV). The Fit is better looking than both.
6.6kW charger, no chademo (screw it, NeXT got away with the capitalization crap because it was Steve, chademo deserves no such respect for the lame socket design) in the U.S., they're waiting to see what SAE comes up with (I'm guessing this may be a small factor in the lease thing). Socket location is just in front of the driver door. The claim is seventy-ish 'real world', but with the battery size in there, I'm not so sure. I'd guess it's even with the Focus - smaller battery, but slightly more efficient.
In all aspects and intents, is really is a regular Fit that's a very competent EV, and so, like all EVs, it just drives better. It's hard to compare it to the Volt - I think it drove better at least in part because it's a pure EV and isn't lugging dead weight around. They've done a really nice job, I wish they were more aggressive about getting to selling it, it would actually be a nice 'competitor' for the Leaf. (I still think the EV segment will get much larger with more validation).
Boggles the mind! http://www.green.autoblog.com/2010/...s-13-8-million-worth-of-plug-in-credits-from/
