Honda e:Ny1 has a weird name but is a competent electric SUV

A fellow motoring hack joked to me that Honda’s marketing director accidentally typed part of his password into the box for inputting the name of Honda’s new electric SUV.

The e:Ny1 is not the most inspired name for a car, and its mix of upper and lowercase lettering makes it a nuisance to type out.

Shakespeare, no doubt, had the Honda e:Ny1 in mind when he penned the line “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”, however.

Names are unimportant, what matters is whether the car is any good.

the all-electic SUV seen from the front — The Honda e:Ny1 starts at just under £40,000. Image: Honda.

The e:Ny1 on the road, seen from the front — The e:Ny1 is a good-looking, mid-size SUV. Image: Honda.

This is Honda’s second attempt at an electric car. The first, the Honda e, was a tiny city car. It had head-turning looks and one of the most wonderful, design-led interiors of any car I’ve driven.

Unfortunately, it had a paltry range. I remember driving one from Doune to Dundee on a rainswept winter’s night and hoping it would have enough battery to get me home.

Electric SUV

This time round Honda has gone for a much more conventional proposition. The e:Ny1 is a mid-size electric SUV with a good-sized battery and decent range.

It sits between two categories and is priced accordingly. At almost 4.4 metres long, it’s larger than the Peugeot e-2008, Kia Niro, and Hyundai Kona but smaller than the Kia EV6, Tesla Model Y or Skoda Enyaq.

Prices start at just under the £40,000 mark, which pitches it above the cost of its smaller rivals and below that of the bigger ones.

the car parked sideways on a long, straight country road — It has good road manners. Image: Honda.

the Honda e:Ny1 seen from behind on a long country road with fields in the background — Real-world range is about 220 miles. Image: Honda.

Underneath the floor pan is a 68.8kWh with a 62kWh usable capacity (they build in a buffer to preserve the life of the battery).

The official range is 250 miles, which is reasonable – although some rivals have a range of 300 miles or more.

Real-world range is slightly lower. After driving my test e:Ny1 for a few days I charged the car to 100% and the screen displayed a 220-mile range.

I found this to be accurate. Indeed, a couple of times the range reduced by less than the distance I’d actually covered.

This is a good thing – I always prefer it if the range errs on the side of caution rather than suggesting you can go farther than you actually can.

I also found the range to be plenty for my needs. On a full day of driving, running various errands all over Fife and Angus, I still had over 30% left in the battery.

Charging the Honda e:Ny1

Of slightly more concern is the charging speed. The Honda e:Ny1 can only charge at up to 78kW, at which speed a 10-80% charge takes 45 minutes.

That means it can’t take advantage of 150kW and 350kW chargers. A hub with eight of these ultrafast chargers opened in Dundee just a couple of weeks ago.

More and more chargers are likely to be upgraded to these speeds as the network improves.

The charging port is in the nose of the car, which I liked. It’s easier to drive straight in and plug in than it is to reverse and negotiate the heavy plug and cable around the side of the car to the position where most EVs charging ports are.

The charger plugged into the nose of the car. — The charger plugs into the nose of the car. Image: Honda.

So what’s the Honda e:Ny1 like to drive? If you’re moving from a petrol to an electric car, you’ll find it a fairly seamless transition.

Keyless entry opens the car and a starter button readies the electric motors. Whereas many electric cars can fire you off the starting line like a bullet out of a gun, the Honda has a more steady power delivery.

With a 0-62mph time of 7.6 seconds it’s speedy enough. You get a little bit of wheelspin if you ask for full power and the road is wet (thanks, Scottish summer…) but mainly it offers smooth and fuss-free progress.

What’s it like inside?

The cabin is dominated by a huge 15.1in portrait-oriented touchscreen display. As is depressingly common these days, the heating controls are operated via the touchscreen but they are, at least, easy to find.

It may be smaller than the Kia EV6 and Tesla Model Y but front and rear passengers enjoy similarly generous levels of head and legroom. Four people of six feet or taller can fit inside comfortably.

The trade-off for all that cabin space is a more limited boot. At 361 litres, it lags behind the 466 litres offered by the Hyundai Kona Electric and 466 litres of the Nissan Ariya.

A 15.1in touchscreen dominates the interior. Image: Honda.

There is plenty of space in the front and rear. Image: Honda.

The boot comes trimmed in hard plastic with a removable plastic floor tray, which makes it easy to clean and means if you’re a dog owner there isn’t any fabric for fur to collect on.

All versions come with heated front seats, adaptive LED headlights, keyless start, dual-zone climate control and adaptive cruise control.

The top-spec Advance model I spent a fortnight with added a heated steering wheel, an upgraded stereo (which sounded excellent), sunroof and power tailgate.

The Honda e:Ny1 is a good all rounder. Image: Honda.

The e:Ny1 is very pleasant to drive. It cruises fairly quietly at motorway speeds and handles well for an SUV. Light steering makes it easy to manoeuvre around town.

The Honda e:Ny1 isn’t a game-changing EV. It doesn’t have best-in-class range or charging speed.

But it does have a nice interior with plenty of passenger space. It drives well, looks good, and should have the excellent reliability Honda is known for.

Honda e:Ny1 review – facts:

Price: £42,195

0-62mph: 7.6 seconds

Top speed: 99mph

Range: 256 miles

CO2 emissions: 0g/km