Slowly, but surely, every large car company is getting on board with electric cars. While most of them have released at least one electric model so far, some are still readying their first.
Did you know, however, that Honda is not one of those latter companies? The Honda Clarity was taken off the market a few years ago, and finally, it now looks like Honda is preparing to launch its first of a new generation of electric cars — the 2024 Honda Prologue SUV.
The Prologue offers a different take on design compared to the Clarity by opting for a slightly more sensible tone. That’s unlike some companies that have taken the advent of the EV as an opportunity to completely revamp the design language of their cars.
Here’s everything you need to know about the all-electric 2024 Honda Prologue.
Design
The Honda Prologue won’t reinvent the wheel in terms of design. It’s not ugly, by any means, but it’s far from the futuristic spaceship that some look for when they buy an electric car.
At the front, you’ll get a fairly typical SUV design, with slimmed-down headlights and a grille toward the bottom of the front. On the rear, you’ll find a slightly sportier look, with slim taillights and a Honda logo that stretches between those lights.
Overall, for an “SUV,” the Prologue looks relatively sporty and agile, with somewhat oversized wheels compared to the size of the body. Ultimately, of course, while the car is being marketed as an SUV, it’s likely to be closer in size to a crossover, like the Kia EV6 and Ford Mustang Mach-E.
Interior and tech
The interior of the Honda Prologue also doesn’t change the game — but it does offer what looks to be a nice selection of physical buttons and controls compared to many of the modern alternatives. An 11.3-inch center display has Honda’s infotainment system built in. Thankfully, the car also supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto — so you won’t have to use Honda’s own infotainment system if you don’t want to.
The Prologue will offer heated front seats, dual-zone climate controls, and wireless charging — even in the lower-end base model. The car offers two rows and five seats, along with 25.2 cubic feet of storage space behind the second row.
Performance
The Honda Prologue will come in three models — the Prologue EX, Prologue Touring, and Prologue Elite. There’s a front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive variant of both the EX and the Touring, with the Elite only coming in an all-wheel drive model. All of the all-wheel-drive configurations come with dual motors.
We don’t know all that much about the exact performance of the car. We do know that it’ll be built on GM’s Ultium platform, and it’s likely to offer similar specifications as the Chevrolet Equinox EV that’s built on the same platform. If so, we can expect a horsepower of around 210 for the front-wheel drive models, and close to 300 horsepower for the all-wheel drive models. Again, however, we’ll have to wait and see what exact numbers on the Prologue turn out to be.
Range and charging
The Honda Prologue has been given an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rating of up to 296 miles — which is quite good considering the price point of the car. It isn’t quite as impressive as the range estimate for the Chevrolet Blazer EV, which is rated for up to 324 miles — but still very respectable.
It’s important to note that this range estimate is the maximum that the Prologue will offer, and it’s for the single-motor EX model, which is the lowest in terms of performance and only front-wheel drive. If you want a higher-performance dual-motor model, you’ll need to deal with a range that’s reduced to 281 miles. The dual-motor option is available for both the EX and Touring trims. On the top-range Elite trim, a dual-motor configuration is standard, and range is further reduced to 273 miles.
Charging speed tops out at 155 kilowatts, which isn’t bad, but is a little low compared to many other electric cars out there right now. Honda says that the car will get 65 miles of range in around 10 minutes when connected to a DC fast charger capable of the maximum 155kW. Again, that’s not great — cars like the Kia EV6, with a charging speed of 350kW, can charge from 10% to 80% in under 20 minutes.
Price and release date
Honda has finally released some information about the pricing of the Prologue, and it’s a relatively affordable car. The Prologue will start at $48,795 for the single-motor EX model. Step up to the dual-motor configuration, and you’ll pay $51,795. The single-motor Touring trim starts at $53,095, with the dual-motor option raising the price to $56,095. Finally, the Elite trim starts at $59,295, with two motors standard.
Honda says that Prologues will be available starting in March 2024 — so you won’t have to wait long to get your hands on one.
