After taking some time to get its bearings, Honda's been chugging along nonstop in its quest to pursue its carbon neutrality goals, across the company. While we've so far seen more EV automobiles from Honda than we have two-wheeled vehicles, Honda has still offered little bits of information here and there about its progress in the two-wheeled realm.
Understandably, electrification of its workhorse and fleet two-wheelers has been a bit quicker to materialize than for more recreationally-minded motorbikes. That's why the Benly e:, Gyro e:, and Gyro Canopy e: all swiftly made appearances, first in Japan and then in other Asian markets where their combustion precursors already enjoyed strong popularity.
But at last, the first-ever EV motorcycle in Honda's EV Fun lineup is here, and they're calling it...the WN7, for some reason. I joke, because it's a somewhat opaque name. But true to form, Honda does present some reasoning for this choice, and it's that W is short for "Be the Wind" while N is short for "naked," since it's a naked bike.
What about the 7? That, Honda says, is its output class. While Honda still hasn't released a full spec sheet for the WN7, it has now released a few select details, including its estimated combustion power equivalency. There, Honda says the WN7 has "performance [that] rivals 600cc ICE models in output [horsepower] and 1000cc ICE models in torque."
Again, no exact numbers have been provided to back these claims; this is just what Honda says so far. It estimates range of the WN7 at being over 130 kilometers on a single charge, or around 83 miles. It's not clear what type of riding was involved in Honda's research here; if this is all city riding, highway riding, or mixed riding will obviously make a big difference, if you're at all familiar with the various factors that can impact an EV's range estimates.
The Li-Ion battery inside the WN7 will be a fixed unit that can't be removed from the bike for charging, so you'll have to plug the whole thing in, as is the case with comparable big EV bikes from other manufacturers. But notably, it will use CCS2 fast charging, which Honda says will fill up the WN7's battery between 20 and 80 percent of a full charge in just 30 minutes.
What if you want to charge it at home? There, Honda says it can easily plug in as well, where it will charge to full in just three hours. Unsurprisingly, the WN7 comes with a 5-inch TFT dash, similar to those found on other current Honda combustion motorbike models. It's also compatible with Honda's RoadSync smartphone app and offers connectivity that way, as well.
There are still plenty of questions that Honda hasn't answered yet, including estimated pricing and availability for the WN7, either in Europe or elsewhere. The overall appearance of the WN7 isn't bad, particularly with the bar-end mirrors and the very modern front headlight cluster. A tail tidy wouldn't go amiss on this machine, but that's the case with a lot of stock machines these days (and of course, is also a matter of opinion).
What do you think of the preliminary details on the WN7? Are you fond of its looks, or do you think Honda should have done something different here? Let us know in the comments.
