What happens? Mini EV Wars [Car economy that can be understood in 5 minutes by Naoto Ikeda]

Text ● Naoto Ikeda Photo ● BYD, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Honda, Suzuki, Toyota

At the Mobi Show 2025, BYD's Raco mini EV was exhibited, and the announcement of its launch around the summer of 2026 attracted attention. In the overall mini cars equipped with internal combustion engines, the "super" tall wagon with sliding doors is the best-selling model, accounting for 54% of the market.

Since the leading Japan-made mini EVs are all tall wagons with hinged doors and slightly shorter than the Super Tall Wagon, some say that Racco, which has a total height of 1800mm and sliding doors, will gain a considerable share of the market.

In fact, Honda's N-VAN e: is a sliding door, but this is a commercial registration, and a sliding door is essential for loading and unloading luggage, so the origin is slightly different. This is because there can be no commercial vehicle that is inconvenient to load and unload luggage.

In other words, unless a domestic manufacturer unexpectedly intervenes with BYD, Racco is likely to be the first sliding door model for passenger registered mini EVs. By the way, the competing domestic companies are as follows.

• Nissan Sakura (total height 1655mm, hinged door, passenger)
• Mitsubishi eK Cross EV (1655mm height, hinged door, passenger car)
• Honda N-VAN e: (Height 1960mm, sliding door, commercial)
• Honda N-ONE e: (Height 1545mm, hinged door, passenger)
• Suzuki Vision e-Sky (height 1625mm, hinged door, passenger version)

Suzuki's Vision e-Sky is likely an EV model of the Wagon R, and it has been announced that it will be released sometime in fiscal 2026. Although it is an unreleased model so far, this will allow most manufacturers to have mini EVs from most manufacturers, except for Daihatsu and its sibling cars provided by OEMs.

By the way, Daihatsu was exhibiting the series hybrid K-VISION, but for the time being, this is not a BEV, so I will exclude it. In fact, there were two mini EVs on display, but the KAYOIBAKO-K is an extremely ambitious concept, but it still seems to be a long way from mass production, and the other e-Atray is clearly a countdown to the release, but there is no announcement of the important release date, so I would like to exclude it. Personally, I think it is better to properly disseminate such information.

Now, let's get back to the main topic. In that case, the question is why Japan manufacturers, which know all about mini cars, do not adopt the sliding door and super tall body model, which sells 54% of the time.

The range of an EV is primarily determined by battery capacity and aerodynamic performance. Considering the price and size of the light, you can't use a large-capacity battery. In that case, the vehicle height will have a negative impact on the front projection area on the straight, and it is likely to be the biggest factor in determining electricity costs.

That's why I want to keep the vehicle height low, but I can't find a few of them in short sedan models like Suzuki's Alto and Daihatsu's Mira Ys. As a result, there is a certain rationality in settling on a tall body around 1650mm as a pitfall.

As an aside, Honda's N-ONE e: is exceptionally tall for a sedan series, and is tailored to a ride height between a sedan and a tall wagon. It is a place where Honda goes its own way. And in mini EVs, a lower vehicle height than competing cars may be an advantage.

Another reason mentioned above is that sliding doors are a little worrisome about their compatibility with EVs. Due to their structure, sliding doors require large sliding rails to be installed in the side sills. Since the lower door rail bears most of the load of heavy sliding doors, if you skimp on the size of this rail, the opening and closing durability will decrease, and the door will physically fall off due to deterioration due to long-term use.

In fact, Toyota's minivans, Alphard/Vellfire and Noah/Voxy, finally solved the harmful effects of this large slide rail after both became current models. Of course, it's about Toyota. Durability is done properly. What got a discount was the body rigidity, that is, the ride quality.

In order to achieve walk-in and walk-through, it is necessary to make the floorboard thin and low, and to eliminate the center tunnel, so the torsional rigidity of the front and rear of the chassis has to be done by the side members. However, the optimal position to pass through this frame competes with the lower slide rail. As a result, the members who want to support the front and rear in a straight line and on the outermost side are avoided by the rails and are allowed to escape inward, and the strength members that are most important for the car are flexed.

As a result, each Toyota minivan up to the previous generation was pathetic that the second row seats trembled even with idle vibrations. However, by advocating "better cars" under the Akio Toyoda system, the design department overwhelmingly succeeded in overwhelmingly increasing the torsional rigidity of the chassis by insisting on measures to increase the floor thickness from the current model in order to realize a better car. It is something that has been politically impossible even though the cause is known until now.

A movable step with a karakuri device was prepared to compensate for the boarding and disembarkation lost by increasing the thickness of the floorboard. As a result, Toyota's minivan was finally given a decent chassis.

What about EVs? EVs are equipped with batteries under the floor. The position of the battery may conflict with the side members and the lower slide rail. The author is glaring that each domestic car has chosen a tall body for hinged doors to avoid this space interference. There must be some reason to see off the sliding door that is selling. Therefore, the adoption of hinged doors seems natural if you think about it conservatively.

However, there is another way of thinking. The battery box can also contribute positively to the torsional rigidity of the front and back. And in the case of BYD, there is also a braid battery that it is proud of. In some cases, the contribution to the space efficiency of the blade battery and the torsional rigidity of the battery box may solve the problem.

Or it may be that the fuel economy is poor due to deterioration in aerodynamics, and the long-term durability of the door may be a problem. Since there is no precedent, you won't know whether it will come out as good or bad until you open the lid and look at it.

If you think about it with common sense, it is difficult to think that the judgment made by Suzuki, which has overwhelming know-how about light, is just a passive measure. On the other hand, BYD has always been an offensive strategy. This time, it seems that he has followed his own precedent and bet on a big game. It will be very interesting to see how Racco is received by the market and how its performance and reliability are evaluated.

By the way, the sales of this Racco are likely to have a big impact on the fate of the mini EV Wars, which is about to have the pieces of each car.