Selling a Honda EV Plus

A lease-only electric Honda

Honda introduced the EV Plus as the first four-passenger electric vehicle with nickel-metal hydride batteries. Early road tests used lead-acid batteries, which wore out fast in summer heat, so Honda changed chemistry. The car was an all-new three-door hatchback designed only for electric drive, and it was built at the Takanezawa Plant of Honda's Tochigi Factory in Japan, where a line-off ceremony was held in April 1997.

A 49 kW brushless DC motor drove it through a single-speed gearbox. Honda's release lists regenerative braking, dual air bags, ABS, projector HID headlights and a heat-pump air conditioner as standard. Fueleconomy.gov rates the 1999 at 81 miles of range and 48 MPGe combined. Honda's Japanese test figure was 210 km per charge.

American Honda leased the car rather than selling it. About half went to individual drivers. Others served government and utility fleets, were rented through Budget in Southern California, or ran in a car-sharing test with the University of California, Riverside. In June 1999 Honda said the last of about 300 cars would be delivered over the next few months.

What NHTSA has on file

There are no owner complaints in NHTSA's records for the EV Plus, so there is no pattern of failures to report. There are two recall campaigns:

• 98V-300, December 1998. On 226 cars, the motor control unit could wrongly detect a failed current sensor at speeds over 50 mph and slow the car quickly. That could mean a sudden loss of power and a rear-end crash. Dealers upgraded the unit.
• 20V-026, January 2020. This large Honda and Acura campaign lists 1997-1998 EV Plus cars among those with non-azide driver air bag inflators that can rupture and throw metal fragments. Dealers inspect the inflator and replace it if necessary, free of charge.

Fix it or sell it?

Start with the recalls, since the air bag work costs nothing. Past that, there is no complaint history to say what usually fails, so a repair estimate has to come from a shop willing to work on a late-1990s electric car. If a car has been parked for years, our guide to cars that have sat explains what to check and what to expect.

Selling one whole

1. Find the VIN and any papers you have. If the title is lost, read the no-title guide first.
2. Ask for an offer online, or call (877) 421-6008.
3. Describe the spot and say if it can roll. Pickup is free anywhere in the US, whether it's in a garage or a side yard.
4. Leave the battery pack and parts in place, and mention anything already taken out.

Honda's later electric and hybrid cars: the Prologue, the Insight and the Clarity.