[ti:Honda Decides to Build Its Own Electric Vehicles in the Future] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]Japanese automaker Honda plans to design [00:04.20]and manufacture its own electric vehicles (EVs) in the coming years. [00:11.28]Company officials say they will begin building their own electric vehicles [00:16.96]after two EVs made by American automaker General Motors go on sale in 2024. [00:26.60]"It's absolutely our intention to produce in our factories," [00:31.88]said Honda of America Executive Vice President Dave Gardner. [00:38.52]He added that Honda has developed battery manufacturing technology [00:44.08]from building gas-electric hybrid vehicles. [00:49.20]Honda and GM have been partners [00:51.80]in making hydrogen and electric powered vehicles. [00:56.84]Earlier this year, the companies announced that GM would build [01:01.84]two sport utility vehicles (SUVs): one Honda sport SUV and one Acura SUV. [01:10.68]Both would use GM's electric vehicle design and battery system. [01:18.24]The company said the Honda SUV would be named the Prologue. [01:24.64]Both SUVs will have bodies, interiors [01:29.12]and driving elements designed by Honda. [01:33.92]Honda then plans to manufacture most of its own electric vehicles. [01:40.72]The company has not decided if it will use GM parts. [01:46.92]Gardner said Honda expects to sell between 40,000 [01:52.04]and 150,000 Prologue EVs a year. [01:57.76]But he did not predict when those numbers would be reached. [02:02.84]In April, the company said it plans to stop [02:06.80]producing gasoline-powered vehicles in North America by 2040. [02:13.36]Honda wants 40 percent of the vehicles it sells in North America [02:18.60]to be powered by batteries or fuel-cells by 2030. [02:24.88]The company also wants 80 percent of all the vehicles it sells [02:29.72]to run on batteries or hydrogen by 2035. [02:35.92]Earlier, Honda had planned to meet stronger government fuel economy [02:41.24]and pollution requirements by adding hybrid vehicles. [02:46.60]But government actions across the world meant to fight climate change [02:51.80]have moved the company more toward fully electric vehicles, Gardner said. [02:59.08]Electric vehicles made up less than two percent [03:02.76]of new vehicle sales in the U.S. last year. [03:07.64]But experts predict huge growth as automakers develop new models. [03:14.84]Car industry advisor LMC Automotive expects 359,000 to be sold this year. [03:25.20]They also expect sales to reach 1 million in 2023 and 4 million in 2030. [03:34.24]That is about 25 percent of yearly new vehicle sales. [03:40.88]I'm Jonathan Evans. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM