Hi All,

I bought a HCH 2006 and I am waiting for delivery (early december!). I had a question about city driving technique. I have read the FAQ on getting the best FE out of a Civic hybrid (in the articles section) but there seems to be a lot of differences between the 2005 and 2006.

The article says that the best way to accelerate to cruising speed (for city driving) is to accelerate with about 50% ASST and then, try to be as light as possible on the accelerator once the cruising speed is reached. The cruising speed should be reached within a few seconds.

Does this still apply for the 2006?

I have also read the threads where at low speed, the civic can go into EV mode only, this would be optimal in city driving. So once cruising speed is reached, we should strive to go into EV mode.

BTW, to make people a bit jealous () I got the civic hybrid 2006 at lower than MRSP here in Canada!

Thanks,
Stephane.

 

Its real hard to talk about technique since very few experienced people have the 06' HCH. Most of the general techniques are still valid. I suspect (and its only a guess) that getting up to speed at moderate acceleration and then gently pullling back on the gas enough to barely maintain speed would be best.

Drive down to Chicago so some of us can take your car out for a test drive

 

That's pretty good, but isn't there a lot of taxes in Canada? What was your cost including taxes, etc?

Don

 

Yup,

taxes are a bit higher. Go it for 26500 CAD taxes and delivery included. The MRSP is 25800 CAD in Canada.

Cheers,
Stephane.

 

At 1.17 CAD to 1 USD, 26500 CAD is $22650 US. That's fantastic!

 

I'm curious about this too. On the one hand, you will use more gas when using 50% assist because the assist level seems to be a function of throttle position (or more precisely, rate of change of throttle position), so the engine is running at higher RPM's. On the other hand, you get up to speed faster. I haven't figured out yet where the sweet spot is on my 06. It's really difficult to accelerate without ANY assist though.

I've found that the best general technique is to just try to coast as much as possible. You can use the EV mode to extend your coasting distance. Rather than thinking of it as 'trying to get into EV mode', you can accelerate up to speed, then take your foot off the gas until the ICE shuts off (zero fuel flow, new in the 06). Then, apply just enough throttle pressure to extend your coast to the next light/stop sign. Depending on how far you need to coast, that may be anywhere from no throttle pressure (allowing a few bars of regen if the battery needs it) to enough pressure to get a few bars of assist without turning the ICE back on (true EV mode). This takes some practice, and I couldn't do it when I first got my 06, but ~300 miles into the first tank it is becoming second nature (and I haven't done that much city driving).

Oh, and congrats on your purchase!!!

 

Technically, that isn't what's new. In fact that was already implemented in fuel injection cars in the late 1980's and was widespread by the mid 90's. What's new for 2006 is that it disengages the valvetrain when the injectors are off. This allows the engine to spin at approximately only 1/10th of the ordinary amount of mechanical loss you get from turning over an ICE with no fuel flow. Still, your instructions are the important part, and those are fully accurate - maximizing coasting is your most powerful tool and the 06 model coasts better than any other Honda Hybrid.

 

Thanks NASAgineer,

I am very interested in all the tests that you are doing. They are key to better understanding how the new hybrid works! I agree with the coasting thing, "trying to get into EV mode" isn't really what the car is doing. From reading several sources (i.e. the Civic FAQ and the Prius user guide which is online), it seems that the best approach is to get to crusing speed as swiftly as possible without racing the engine.

I guess I'll try have to try it when I actually get the car (the waiting is the bad part).

Cheers,
Stephane.

 

Right, and 50% assist may indeed be the best way to do that. Another thing to consider is that using assist is like borrowing from the bank. Whatever you borrow, you have to eventually pay back in the form of regen. If the battery level falls low enough, you might need to pay back with regen during your coasts, which of course shortens the coasting distance. It's a complex game with many variables, which is also why it's fun, at least for a geek like me!

I felt your pain

 

Another piece to this puzzle is that the VTEC high-output cams (AKA, the less FE cams) kick in at 3500 RPM. They will also kick in at lower RPM's if you press the gas hard enough, but they always kick in @ 3500 and above. So, for the most fuel-efficient acceleration phase, you'll want to keep the RPM's below 3500, and the optimal point is probably even lower.