presented the Afeela 1 at CES this week. The Afeela 1 EV is nearly production-ready and will be assembled in the U.S. at a Honda facility. Afeela also announced the start of reservations, which for now, is only open to California residents. These curious Californians will need to be wealthy ones, as pricing is set at a hefty $89,900 to start.
Almost $90,000 Is A Big Ask
That admittedly large asking price is just the start. Afeela will charge $89,900 for the 1 Origin version, with a better-equipped Signature trim pushing pricing to $102,900. No matter which, some features are common, such as the included three-year subscription to a host of in-car features like driver assist features and an AI-powered personal assistant. Screens span the interior, which also features sustainable materials used for the trim, and Sony has implemented its 360 Spatial Sound technology into the sound system.
The Afeela 1 will be powered by a dual-motor AWD system, with 241 horsepower at each motor for a combined output of 482 hp. The company is eyeing some 300 miles of range, and DC fast-charging at up to 150kW should help alleviate any range concerns. Interestingly, the company is getting ahead of the shift to NACS-type charge ports, offering one as standard. Speaking of tech, Afeela said its Intelligent Drive system would (via some 40 cameras and sensors) provide “advanced driver assistance,” though it does not specify to what degree.
A Tough Place To Be
The $90,000 mark is a tough place to be. Everyone and their mother has a $90,000 EV, and competition for the Afeela 1 will be stiff. Lucid offers two trims of the Air under the Afeela’s price point, the Air Pure ($69,900) and the Air Touring ($78,900). Lucid has had its share of struggles in the past, just as Afeela could, but the automaker has made a consistently compelling luxury sedan through it all. The Air lands remarkably close to the Afeela dimensionally, measuring 195.9 inches long to the Afeela 1’s 193.5-inch overall length. It also manages another hundred miles of range, for a total of some 400 miles between charges while also offering 620 horsepower.
TopSpeed’s Take
To say the least, Afeela has some work to do. The car must make a compelling argument in an expensive and competitive segment at a time when interest from U.S. buyers is shifting towards hybrids as a notoriously anti-EV political machine takes office in just 15 days. The path ahead is one fraught with risk and peril, and Afeela might have started on a risky note.
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