Driving Experiment: MT vs CVT & pack life
 

In previous threads this community concluded that pack SoC swings reduce pack life, and that the MT encourages swings more than the CVT does.

This is important to me because my commute is up a ~7 mile rolling hill, typically the pack goes to 30% SoC into work, and back to 100% on the way home. I have been riding the pack up the hill in 5th gear.

In a previous thread someone commented that the CVT allows the engine to rev fairly freely when the accellerator pedal is pressed, which seems to spare the pack. I have have also seen the IMA more willing to assist at lower rpms than higher ones.

So I tried to emulate the CVT into work today by downshifting on the uphill grades, once I was in third at about 45 mph, and most of the climb was in fourth at about 50-55 mph. The IMA did kick in a bit, but the pack didn't go below 70% SoC. :D

Overall mpg was down about 1 mpg (37.8). :) Not bad at all!

I am thinking the ICE is more efficient at the loads and rpms I used, thus making up for most of the loss of IMA.

Re: Driving Experiment: MT vs CVT & pack life
 

I wish the CVT had a "button" that I could press to leverage the pack at times. I seem to carry a full charge in a lot of places where the pack could help my numbers.

Or the ability for the CVT to lock in it's tallest ratio...

Re: Driving Experiment: MT vs CVT & pack life
 

Hi Kmh3:

___If you are willing to really drop her down with the stick, you may be able climb without assist but it is a slow proposition. While climbing in the Insight 5-speed, I would see a 4-bar assist burst and immediately back off the accelerator to remove, 4-bars, back off again, 4-bars, back off, and by the third or fourth cycle, I would downshift to the next lower gear … Once you are down to second gear at a higher RPM just below V-TEC engagement (~ 2,700 RPM in the Insight), you may find a maintainable, higher RPM w/ no assist, speed while climbing also? I could climb 5 + % grades like this without assist but at speeds as low as 20 - 25 mph while still receiving 40 - 60 mpg in the truck climbing lanes using the above technique …

___Riding the pack as you described as well as cycling does decrease the packs longevity and I cannot think of a harder hit then to hold 5th gear during a climb. It sounds as if you may have found a happy medium?

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

Re: Driving Experiment: MT vs CVT & pack life
 

I've tried going up the 6% grade west of Denver on I70 recently on a 5-speed Insight. I could do 60-65mph, but was in 3rd almost red-lining to avoid recalibrating. Fortunately, that kind of terrain is rare.

Re: Driving Experiment: MT vs CVT & pack life
 

I was thinking of doing an experiment some time by removing fuses to disable the IMA completely and see if my numbers improve.

My thought is that I'll use a little more fuel while accelerating but will have no battery recharge penalty.

75% Of the time while I'm climbing a hill or accelerating I'm surfing the edge of no Assist, because when it comes on my numbers go down more rapidly than not. Because of that I'm wondering how much the motor actually helps in that regard, or is it mainly just that the injectors are throwing more fuel down the pipes?

Another experiment I'd like to do is hook my frequency counter onto an injector and look for a large, substantial Hz increase as the Assist comes on?

Has anyone with a scan gauge checked this theory out? Would a scan gauge even indicate % wise injector pulse?

Thoughts?