Latest news with #Fastport
Motor Trend
8 hours ago
- Automotive
- Motor Trend
Honda's New Electric Delivery Quadricycle Has Swappable Batteries, Fits in Bike Lanes
The business of delivering goods is a vast and complex one, and is only made more complicated by dense, urban spaces where demand is high and streets are tight. Enter the Fastport eQuad, a new, all-electric quadricycle from a new subsidiary of Honda. Though just a prototype for now, the eQuad is designed with urban congestion in mind and will offer a variety of features and sizes to fit the challenges of last-mile delivery. Honda's Fastport eQuad is a new electric quadricycle for urban deliveries, featuring swappable batteries, customizable cargo sizes, and bike lane compatibility. It offers a max speed of 12 mph and will debut at Eurobike 2025, with deliveries starting late this year. This summary was generated by AI using content from this MotorTrend article Read Next Fastport is Honda's B2B business and micromobility arm. On Tuesday, it announced its first product will be the eQuad, which is the vehicle delivery drivers will use to get your goods to you in a more efficient and safer way. This quadricycle prioritizes rider comfort, the company claims, as Honda's own engineering in the chassis design should return a comfortable ride, even over rough city blocks. That's fine, but the rest of the driver-comfort list is far from the sort of basic amenities you might find in, say, any modern Honda passenger vehicle. Delivery people, get excited for a full-frontal enclosure for protection against the elements, a ventilation fan, and a UV-coated canopy with a ceramic tint option. Maybe pay less attention to the (arguably efficient, for getting in and out quickly) otherwise open-air cockpit. Swappable rechargeable batteries will theoretically cut down on time spent waiting to charge back up again. Plus, an all-electric setup means no additional noise or emissions pollution. There's a pedal-by-wire pedal-assist powertrain, as well as automatic parking brakes and regenerative braking. Both small and large cargo box container sizes will be offered, depending on regional needs. Vehicle length can also be customized, which means customers can load a variety of goods like groceries, parcels, or small packages. The eQuad can also fit in bike lanes, which should reduce traffic congestion (at least for cars, maybe not, um, bikes). Two sizes will be offered. The small eQuad is approximately 11 feet long, just shy of 7 feet tall, and 3 feet wide, while the large model is approximately 12 feet long, 7 feet tall, and 4 feet wide. The small cargo box is approximately 6.3 feet long, 4.8 feet tall, and 3.2 feet wide; the largo cargo box is roughly 7.4 feet long, 5 feet tall, and 4 feet wide. Maximum payload for the small version is 320 pounds and 650 pounds for the large, and at maximum payload capacity, the large can travel up to 23 miles. No word yet on the range for the small. Both versions can travel up to a maximum speed of 12 mph. That's not all. The eQuad will also be equipped with software-defined platform features like maintenance and service plans, AI-powered dashboards to help with driver and fleet-management operations, and over-the-air software updates. Honda plans to debut its prototype at the Eurobike 2025 event in Frankfurt, Germany, at the end of June. No pricing was announced at this time, though deliveries of the first edition models are slated to start late this year. A full rollout is expected to happen next summer. At least in the case of a place like New York City, this is good news. Last-mile truck use has long plagued city streets and only increased in recent years due to the rise in e-commerce. Residents are fighting againstdangerous truck traffic, toxic air quality, and noise. Electric cargo bikes like the eQuad are the way forward. An update to the Department of Transportation's cargo bike rules in March 2024 now allows for freight deliveries to be executed by "pedal-assist electric cargo bicycles up to four feet wide, with four wheels and up to [16 feet long] long (with trailer)," Streetsblog New York City reported. This is "up from the original 120-inch limit that would have barred the existing fleets from Whole Foods and Amazon." Furthermore, the rules also establish new curb regulations: a "Commercial Bicycle Loading Only" zone to allow dedicated space at the curb for cargo bikes to load and unload goods." The eQuad's range might run into issues in bigger and more sprawling cities, but in immediate downtown areas, they're likely to be a favorable mobility solution.
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Check Out This Cool Delivery Vancycle Thing Honda Is Building
Honda gets into the urban delivery game with the funky, boxy eQuad. The last-mile box vanscycle is all-electric, with swappable batteries, regenerative braking, and OTA updates. Pricing should be out closer to its launch in 2026. Package delivery has become a huge business, with Amazon vans everywhere and thousands of folks squirting through city streets on scooters with insulated square boxes on the back delivering who knows what to who knows where. Honda sees this as an opportunity. The company that makes everything from weed whackers to Formula 1 engines and all things in between will enter the micromobility business by the end of the year. At a ginormous trade show in Frankfurt called Eurobike, Honda announced the establishment of Fastport, which it called 'a new B2B business dedicated to transforming the last-mile delivery industry with innovative micromobility solutions.' It also unveiled Fastport's first product in prototype form, the funky, boxy eQuad, shown here. 'This all-electric quadricycle delivery vehicle, designed for use in bike lanes, enables companies to enhance their urban logistics operations with speed, efficiency and reliability,' the company said. It'll be all-electric, and powered by Honda Mobile Power Pack (MPP) swappable batteries and software-defined vehicle (SDV) features like service and maintenance plans, along with AI-powered dashboards with real-time insights that enhance driver and fleet-management operations. It also sports regenerative braking, automatic parking brakes, a canopy with UV coating and a ceramic tint option, and even a ventilation fan and full-frontal enclosure. And check out that four-wheel independent suspension. Are those coil springs? Maximum payload is 650 pounds, with a top speed of 12 mph and 'up to' 23 miles range. But when the battery dies, just swap it out for a new one. The cargo box can be ordered in up to 89 inches long, 60 high, and 47.9 wide. No price was mentioned. The Fastport is intended for use on bike paths, which some cities have and some don't. San Francisco and the Greater Bay Area, Portland, Minneapolis, Seattle, and even New York have bike paths or lanes. A lot of cities don't. (I'm looking at you, Las Vegas.) Trying to squeeze a 47.9 inch-wide big box through some city streets could be a challenge. For comparison, something the size of a Vespa scooter typically used for food delivery is about two and a half feet wide, or a foot and a half narrower than the Fastport. But a Mercedes Sprinter van is almost eight feed wide, so you could get three Fastports in the width of a Sprinter. Ah, math. The Fastport eQuad will be produced at the Honda Performance Manufacturing Center (PMC) in Ohio, a small volume, specialty manufacturing facility using domestic and global parts. Since opening in 2016, the PMC has been responsible for production of the Acura NSX supercar, multiple Acura PMC Edition vehicles, and the CR-V e:FCEV fuel cell electric vehicle, as well as Honda Performance Development race cars. Look for them in early 2026, Honda says. Pricing TBA. Will this thing succeed? Tell us what you think in the comments section.
Newsweek
15 hours ago
- Automotive
- Newsweek
Honda Spins Into Micromoblity Business with Electric Quadricycle
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. It's been 128 years since Henry Ford created the first quadricycle. Now, Honda plans to use the form of transportation in a thoroughly modern way as a last-mile, micromobility solution. Honda's new Fastport operations is a business-to-business (B2B) business dedicated to creating micromobility solutions for the last-mile delivery industry. In America, much of that type of delivery is done by car, SUV or truck outside of urban areas. In Europe, delivery via bicycle is far more common. The company will debut its first solution, a zero-emission, electrified quadricycle at the Eurobike exhibition in late June. The Fastport eQuad is designed for use in bike lanes. "The Fastport team has worked tirelessly to create the Fastport eQuad, a zero-emission alternative to delivery vans that solves the challenge of last mile urban logistics by meeting the needs of urban residents expecting on-demand deliveries of packages, groceries and other items," said Jose Wyszogrod, general manager and founding member of Fastport, said in a press release. Fastport eQuad Prototype testing in New York City. Fastport eQuad Prototype testing in New York City. Honda The eQuad is powered by Honda Mobile Power Pack swappable batteries and has software-defined vehicle features, the company said. It utilizes a pedal-by-wire powertrain to have electrically enhanced movement through the streets. Its regenerative braking system captures and reuses energy in a manner similar to how an electrified car, truck or SUV does. It also has automatic parking brakes. Honda's eQuad was designed to prioritize rider comfort. It features a canopy with a UV coating. Buyers can opt for a ceramic tint, ventilation fan or full-frontal enclosure. Its chassis was engineered by Honda to allow the model to ride smoothly over rough surfaces. Fastport's large and small vehicle and cargo box container sizes are tailored to meet regional customer needs. Its modular design is primed for customization depending on the need. The large version can handle a payload of up to 650 pounds, while the small version can handle up to 320 pounds. Both versions have a maximum speed of 12 miles per hour. Range is payload dependent. The large model will be able to go up to 23 miles at a time. The range of Fastport's small model has not yet been released. The company plans to couple the eQuad with a Fleet-as-a-Service model that allows customers to tap into the vehicle's software-defined vehicle attributes to feed information into artificial intelligence-managed fleet software dashboards. These dashboards give real-time insights to fleet managers via cloud technology. Discussions with major logistics and delivery companies in North America and Europe are underway with the aim of starting a pilot test program ahead of production launch. Fastport plans to sell its last-mile solutions in North American and Europe, beginning with first-edition vehicles in late 2025. Mass production is expected to begin in the summer of 2026. U.S.-bound units will be assembled at the Honda Performance Manufacturing Center in Ohio.
