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Honda Hybrid: Typical Driving Experience
Start-up
From the moment you turn the key, you know you?re in for a unique experience. When you turn the key you don?t hear the starter solenoid kicking its gear out to engage the flywheel. In other words, you hear nothing until the tachometer comes to life with the gas engine. It is the electric motor that starts the crankshaft and pistons turning. Add spark and gasoline and the combustion chambers will take it from there.
Acceleration
Both the gas engine and electric motor work together to accelerate the hybrid like a more powerful, larger gas engine but with the fuel efficiency and environmental benefits of its smaller gas engine. In the Honda Hybrid System, the gas engine and the electric motor are always turning in the same direction and at the same speed. It is the Simplicity of this engineering solution that allows Honda Hybrids to accelerate with the use of either Manual or CVT Automatic Transmissions.
Constant Speed
Whether you are traveling your neighborhood streets at 25 mph or interstate cruising at 70 mph, the power control unit can signal the electric motor to become a mild generator and trickle charge the NiMH batteries. Low drag coefficients contribute to this process by requiring fewer horsepower at speed than higher drag coefficient models.
Deceleration
When I depress the brake pedal in my hybrid, I like to think of it as the time that I produce gasoline out of thin air. Instead of storing the energy in a liquid form as gasoline in the tank, you store the energy as electrical charge in the NiMH batteries. So, when braking, instead of signaling the brake pads to engage the rotors and lose energy in the form of heat to the environment, the electric motor becomes a super generator and sends a torrent of electrical energy to the NiMH battery pack.
Autostop
The first time the gas engine quits at a stop light, you wonder how far you have to walk back to Honda Motorwerks. But as soon as you remove your foot from the brake pedal of an automatic or release the clutch in a manual transmission, the electric motor restarts the gas engine and you?re free to accelerate through the entire cycle. The next time the gas engine quits at a stop light, you thoroughly enjoy the quiet, no engine vibration, you?re not using any gasoline or putting out any emissions and you think this is great and all cars should be like this hybrid.
Experience the Excitement!
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