Honda has partnered up with its local dealer associations to start production of the Honda Shogo, an electric ride-on vehicle that will transport young patients at children’s hospitals across the US.
The new program will see 60 of the little electric cars for kids produced and distributed among children’s hospitals nationwide.
They are based on the original Honda Shogo vehicle that was custom designed by a volunteer team of Honda engineers and has been transporting young patients to and from procedures and appointments at one of Honda’s long-term community partners, Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) in California, since December 2021. Based on the success of the original vehicle, a new run of 60 Shogos has commenced.
The new version of the Shogo is designed and produced in-house by Honda Performance Development (HPD) in California “using race-winning technology” developed by Honda.
The first two production Honda Shogo vehicles have already arrived at Akron Children’s in Akron, Ohio, and Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, Indiana.
“Creating Shogo was a true labor of love for our team of Honda associates and engineers driven by our desire to bring joy and mobility to young patients dealing with a hospital stay,” said Hundy Liu, manager of national automobile advertising and Project Courage Lead, American Honda Motor Co., Inc. “We’re incredibly excited to expand the program by partnering with our Honda dealer network to make a Shogo vehicle possible for more children’s hospitals nationwide and use the power of play and laughter to help ease the stress and anxiety of hospitalized children and their families.”
The tiny electric car is specifically designed to navigate hospital hallways with a focus on helping patients ages 4 through 9.
The Honda Shogo is easy for children to drive by managing the go/stop mechanism on the steering wheel. To keep the kids from getting too far ahead of the hospital staff, the vehicle features an adjustable speed of just 1-5 miles per hour (1.5 to 8 km/h).
It also can be pushed by a nurse or caregiver from a rear handlebar, which is also equipped with an IV pole attachment.
The little Honda Shogo lacks doors in a design intended to make it as safe and easily accessible for young riders as possible.
The Shogo also features a smooth interior to make it easy to keep clean in an indoor hospital setting, and an open frunk in the front of the vehicle is there to hold items that children want to bring along with them.
As another fun feature, the Honda Shogo’s license plate slot is customizable to display the name of each child rider.
It’s not the first tiny electric vehicle that Honda has debuted in the last week, but it certainly has the youngest target audience. To see it in action, check out the video below.