Yes, and the HCH-2 starts MUCH quicker than another (traditional) starter car do. Try just turning the key to start and immediately let go. It'll start anyway. It's VERY difficult to do this action fast enough so as to keep the HCH from starting. Try this with a traditional-starter car. You'll be lucky if the starter even gets engaged enough to move the flywheel, let alone starting the car.

Now - the tradiitional starter WILL get used in extreme (usually cold) climates and if the IMA battery state-of-charge is considered too low.
My traditional starter has kicked in twice. Once after the windows were tinted (I think the guys used the radio & AC - the IMA battery was at 0 bars ). The car still started quite quickly, though not as fast as with the IMA starting method. I'm sure the low-friction engine and 0-20 oil contribute to that.

 

Hi M. Santos,

Quote:

"That is a good question.

There have been those of us who depleted the 12V battery with little effort by just using a tire pump. It does not take much to get to that state particularly if we already run a lot of gadgets inside the car. The tell-tale sign of a freshly depleted battery is the frequent rebooting of the car's dash (blinking at 1Hz) as we are inflating the last tire. At that point we cannot start the car at all unless we recharge the 12V battery with an external charger."

As with most of The replies I've received from you, this is just the info I was looking for.

Thanks very much,

Galileo