Just out of curiosity,

Where does it say on the Honda website that it can go up to 35 mph on electric alone ???? From what I've read and heard, it said that it can go "under certain conditions"

 

I'm not sure what you mean when you say "run on electric motor alone". There are a few things I'm certain about.
- You cannot begin moving from a stop on the electric motor alone.
- On a flat road, you cannot maintain constant speed on the electric motor alone. The best you can do is roll for a long distance while gradually losing some speed.
- You can get no more than 4 or 5 bars of assist in EV mode. And that's only when the batteries are close to a full charge. 4 bars of assist are about half the power of the electric motor, which comes out to about 10 horsepower. That's not a lot of power to propel the vehicle.

From my experience, when going faster than 35MPH (certainly when going 60 let's say), if I get into a glide with valves shut (100 MPG on the instantaneous readout) and press lightly on the gas pedal I can eliminate the regen and coast for a long distance. But if I press any harder, trying to get even one bar of assist, the ICE immediately kicks in.

 

If you go to the American Honda site and look at engineering for the 06 Civic Hybrid - http://automobiles.honda.com/models/...g_overview.asp It says this.. Integrated Motor Assist (IMA™)

IMA couples a 1.3-liter, 8-valve, i-VTEC® 4-cylinder gasoline engine with an electric motor. Although the engine alone provides sufficient driving performance, when additional power is required, a permanent-magnet electric motor mounted between the engine and transmission provides power assist. For 2006, the electric motor can propel the car from a stop to speeds up to 35 mph. Together, the motor and engine produce 110 hp @ 6000 rpm, an increase of 17 hp over the previous generation.

Turok

 

This statement is clearly incorrect. It is IMPOSSIBLE to increase speed on electric only unless going downhill. It is IMPOSSIBLE to move from a stop without the ICE turning on, again unless going downhill.

I can, however, drive thru the parking lot at the train station on electric only at about 12mph.

Honda needs to fix their website.

Ron in SoCal

 

If you can run at 12mph on electric only, this statement could be true - however my 06 HCH has not demonstrated any Electric only traits. It would not be impossible to take off in EV mode or to accelerate - it just depends on the logic or programming Honda has to control the Hybrid. What isn't clear, is what that programming is set to do. Turok

 

I don't think your car is running on Electric only on flat road or you would be able to maintain 50mph speed as less than 10 hp is needed for this. If you push the pedal to stop the regen in glide mode the HCH would be able to coast quite far, but not recharging your batteries is the downside. -Turok

 

Your explanation and experience seems very good on the 06HCH II. Unfortunately I have 8000 miles plus on mine and have not experienced the EV mode only. The glide mode with the valves shut works very well, at highway speeds I sometime get a jerk when the ICE kicks back on. Even when taking off going downhill or coasting downhill I can't get the EV mode to engage. Sometimes when rpms increase going uphill my HCH II gets confused and goes to charge mode when charge is already high.
It is not possible for the HCH to disengage the ICE from the drivetrain and still allow regeneration so that's why the ICE always spins except during auto stops. -Turok

 

Hello! How exactly do you achieve to do this? How can you drive below 12MPH with the electric mode alone?

 

That IS EV mode. Are you simply saying that you then can't get any assist when crusing like that? For me, I have gotten to the point where I just naturally get into EV mode when the conditions are right for it. Sometimes, when travelling slightly downhill, at say 50mph, it'll kick in and go to 3-4 bars of assist without me even trying anything, which is really cool.

 

I am new here, and have a week old Honda Civic Hybrid, but I found this very interesting reading for how to drive the Civic. It covers many things that happen as you accelerate in the Civic.

Check it out...

http:/www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1306