The problem with electric car design aesthetics

So here is the Honda e in concept design:

And here it is in confirmed production guise:

So what’s the issue? Take a close look at the two photos. Look at the headlights, the wheels, the door handles, the number of doors. The shape of the rear window. In particular, the roofline in the first photo as it carries the stark white simplicity of the body line up over the windows and windscreen. And then the second, which does completely the opposite, carrying the black of the A pillar back over the roof to end in a spoiler that juts out beyond the back line of the car. These are two completely different cars, design-wise.

In fact, I’d go further and say that the production version looks like a cheap Chinese knock-off of the first, which is a premium design product. The Boway Notch to Apple’s iPhone XS.

It gets even worse inside. Here is what the concept version looked like:

Wow. There may be 1970s retro undertones with the wood veneer and Austin Allegro-esque square steering wheel, but as an antidote to the ubiquitous black plastic-and-fake-leather interior of every car currently, what a statement! The clean lines, uncluttered underside of the dash area and ‘sofa’ seating all fly in the face of conventional interior car design. While the production version keeps the shelf-like dash, the black plastic has crept back in, and the steering wheel looks like it was taken from a second gen Jazz (which it probably was). And look again at the exterior photo - two separate front seats. Just. Like. Every. Other. Car.

I know, I know - all cars look better in concept form than when they get to production, once the marketing focus groups, road regulatory compliance crew and bean-counters have taken over. And nothing looks as good as those wonderful lines seen on cars from the ’50s and ’60s, before pesky nuisances like road-user safety concerns made every car look like a jelly mould. But the issue is that electric cars should be creating a new and distinctive design vernacular that separates them from everything that went before, that speaks to future optimism, and (most importantly) incentivises people to think differently when buying a car. The lure of a green alternative to ICE alone is not going to drive the change that scientific consensus demands in the timeframes being talked about. And certainly not at a £30,000 price point.

Car manufacturers need to encourage drivers out of big SUVs and into smaller, more efficient cars. For the modern world, cars need to be cleaner, easier to park and take up less space on the road. But most of all, car owners need to want to buy electric cars more than they want to buy ICE cars. No doubt some e-Golfs will be sold to drivers who otherwise would have chosen the standard combustion engine Golf, but the vast majority of would-be purchasers will struggle to justify paying the extra £6,000-plus just to feel smug about saving the planet. A car that stands out for being different in the way it looks and how it makes the occupants feel when inside, as well as representing a different driving and ownership experience, will be more successful in the long run, even if it costs more. Look at Apple’s laptop and iPad offerings, and their success in creating sustained consumer loyalty at increased prices through the provision of a premium product.

There is an opportunity here to completely re-think what we expect from cars and how we interact with them. It isn’t enough to simply produce an electric variant of existing ICE cars and declare the job done. Battery technology frees up space in all parts of the car, as the engine and drivetrain are done away with, meaning that designers can rethink the layout and interior restrictions of the car. How we store luggage and provisions can change, as can the way driver and passengers interact with each other in the car. As autonomous car technology develops, we will travel differently and do different things in the car while we travel, and interiors need to adapt with that. So too will the exterior shape and size of cars move away from the “three box” design required to house an engine, passenger compartment and boot, and the lower centre of gravity permitted by batteries can make cars roomier inside and sleeker outside. Tesla has taken a few tentative steps in this direction, but lacks the R&D budget of the automotive majors to really think outside the (three) box(es).

I hope time will change my view, but so far I am underwhelmed by electric car aesthetics, and that means I don’t see the merit in spending a lot of money to buy an electric car. The industry needs to be bold and forward-looking, rather than seeking to repackage the past. I wouldn’t look twice at the Honda e that will be on dealer forecourts shortly; I’d have bought the concept version in an instant.