Have you driven a Hybrid? You might think they are all the same but nothing is farther from the truth!
II had been looking at the cost of gas earlier this year and decided to stop using my old truck, which I need to get hay, to get to work which was getting 10mpg and bought an old Subaru outback with 235k miles for $1000, in order to save money on the 12 mile trip to work.
I did my calculations and the 120 miles per week just to get to work cost me $200.20. The Outback wagon is rated at 18 City/24 hwy. I live on the far west end of town and have to commute into and through the center of downtown Billings. Plugging these figures into my spreadsheet showed I should get an average of about 20.10 MPG. So using these figures, my cost of gas would be $99.60 for a saving of $100.60 in gas. Great I thought - It will pay for itself in 10 months, just on my work commute alone!
That was 8 months ago and it held true. I never thought about trying to get more Mpg from the Subaru, it was twice as economical as my truck so I was happy driving it the way I have driven any car... until I decided to take a Honda Insight Hybrid for a week to get me to and from work and on occasion to the ranch where we keep some of our horse. Having been a car enthusiast my whole life, owning muscle cars, drag cars, hot rods, autobahn high speed Beemers, Audis and Porsches, it was hard to think that a lowly Honda Insight hybrid could garner any excitement for me at all, but I wanted to learn more about what we sell and this got my attention.
Hypermiling competition:
The Maximum Fuel Economy contest was held in Elkhart, Indiana, where "world records" for the Honda Insight (213 miles per US gallon (1.10 L/100 km; 256 mpg-imp) round trip), Toyota Prius (136 miles per US gallon (1.73 L/100 km; 163 mpg-imp) round trip) and the Ford Escape Hybrid(76 miles per US gallon (3.1 L/100 km; 91 mpg-imp) mpg round trip) were set.
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| 2010 Honda Insight Hybrid |
The Insight is a 2010 model, 10k miles and used as a service loaner for our Underriner Honda Dealership. First thing I did was to look up the MPG history which told me that for 10k miles the Insight had managed to average a very respectable 44.8 MPG in the hands of many different people using it as basic transportation. EPA says 41 City/ 43 Hwy so it was already an over achiever! It utilizes IMA Technology.
I set the B trip meter and proceeded to try and drive it as economically as possible. I googled "Hypermiling" and found many tips on how to drive in a "Greener" way. Now, I am by no means a tree hugger, and am just out to see how much I can save on gas, but I do like the idea that I could now rectify many years of lead foot poisoning of our planet with 900hp Wheel standing Camaros and doing my part in giving back to Mother Earth! The results were not only amazing but very satisfying too. I could report on how i had done on the way into to work to my colleagues and let them know that I was averaging around 60 MPG on my commute! almost 50% better than EPA says I should get! The fun of it is you can keep learning tricks to improve the economy - I just rest the trip A meter and am currently at 33 miles and 63.8 MPG! This is exciting in a way I never expected! It is like an "Anti Hot-Rod"
The trick is learning how to be efficient with momentum... If an ant crawled on my throttle when I left home, he would probably be alive when I got to work - you have to be super light on the throttle. I could impress my wfe by telling her I actually got to overtake someone today... and after she had ridden with me, she asked, "Was it a pedestrian!" LOL! Yes, the fields are passing by slower, the drive is quiet, yet I still get up to about 60 mph on the 3 mile stretch along King Ave, but it is no longer as soon as I get past the 45 mph zone, more like a mile past it before my light foot has been able to ease up the speed.
The car teaches you... It has so many tools to show you if you are driving in the most economical way possible. It has the now famous Econ Button which activates EcoAssist, that the guy in the Honda ad is wanting on a competitors car. The Speedometer is placed in a rise in the dash and is visible above the steering wheel. It has a Green through Blue background to it, Green means you are driving efficiently, Blue means you are a lead foot and Teal is in between and let's you know you are neither!
The main trick to getting such great economy is the instant MPG gauge which shows a bar graph with 0 - 50 - 100 mpg scale and each bar is 5mpg. You can pulse the throttle very gently to kick in the electric motor assist once you have reached you cruising speed and get stretches where the bars are all the way to the right on the 100MPG marker. Once the engine is warmed up, the Auto stop will activate any time you come to a stop, strange the first time it happens! It is so quiet if the radio is not on!
Here is an image from my first couple of trips where I averaged 57.5 mpg over 42 miles with a peak of over 62mpg. 1 is too work, 2 is returning home and 3 is to work again. As you can see, I found that the mornings are less economical than the evening return due to the car being cold from startup and standing overnight. Running A/C is a drain on the motors so I usually have it turned off or just turn it on to cool the cabin down a little then off again. I roll down the window in town where it doesn't affect the aerodynamics, but in the heat of the summer this year, I would forego MPG for comfort and that A/C would be cranked up!
I reset the trip again a couple of days ago and so far have 33 miles and 63.8 MPG!
Honda ECO ASSIST System (extract from wikipedia)
The new Insight is the first Honda hybrid to feature their Ecological Drive Assist System (ECO ASSIST). This system is designed to help the driver develop and maintain a fuel-efficient driving style. The system monitors and displays the positive or negative effect of a driving style on the vehicle’s fuel economy.
As a visual aid, the background of the Insight’s digital speedometer glows green when the car is being driven in an efficient manner. Somewhat less-efficient driving makes the meter glow blue-green. Aggressive starts and stops that consume extra fuel make the meter glow blue. By observing the color shift of the speedometer background, the driver receives assistance in developing driving habits that typically enhance fuel economy.
In addition, ECO ASSIST includes a dedicated ECON button that enables the driver to initiate a range of functions that increase the fuel economy of the IMA system via a single button press. In ECON mode, the driver trades off a measure of performance for enhanced fuel economy but gains the following advantages:
- Increases the potential for engaging the Idle Stop feature sooner
- Operates air conditioning more in recirculation mode
- Reduces automatic climate control blower fan speed
- Optimizes throttle angle input and CVT operation
- Limits power and torque by approximately 4 percent (full responsiveness is provided at wide-open-throttle)
Overall, ECO ASSIST is designed to assist the driver in adopting a balanced approach between efficient highway commuting and efficient city driving. However, the EPA found during fuel economy testing that using the ECO ASSIST mode "registered no effect" on its fuel economy rating. "It relaxes throttle response, so the test driver simply compensates with additional throttle to achieve the required speeds."
Now, I have a lot to learn before I could even imagine being able to challenge that 216 MPG world record that the Honda Insight set, but it is certainly fun to see how I can improve... This is the same mentality that first attracted me to racing... and a lot cheaper!
| 2013 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid |
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| 2014 Honda Accord Plug -in Hybrid |
I chose the Honda Insight because it was more practical than the similar IMA equipped Honda Civic Hybrid and sportier CR-Z. I would love a new Accord Hybrid or Hyundai Sonata hybrid, (if only they would make a wagon) both of which have the new Lithium Ion Battery technology instead of the Nickel Metal Hydride of the earlier Hybrids, but finance cost was a major concern too. If I need to carry skis I can fold the 60/40 split seats, my large Leonberger dogs can lie down in it, (a rear sunroof would be needed for them to be able to stand up - the male is 32 inches tall!) and it is comfortable to drive.
I am pretty sure that even during the cold of winter where MPG typically drops 10-20% on all vehicles, I should be able to average above the EPA estimates and feel that a minimum of 50MPG is entirely achievable by anyone who is interested in driving efficiently. Can I drive slow and efficiently always, I very much doubt it, but I have learned that you can use these techniques in any car and improve your MPG 10-30% with ease.
Are you an iPhone user? If so, you are in luck as there is an app for Hypermiling! $5.99 at the iTunes app store. You can use this in any vehicle to increase your economy.
http://hunter.pairsite.com/greenmeter/
Though it's most effective on the road, you can learn from greenMeter even before you get in the car. By tipping the device forward and backward to simulate acceleration, you can see the effects of acceleration, aerodynamic drag, and rolling resistance across the speed range. Then implement this knowledge on the road, by choosing an efficient cruising speed and using the built-in eco-driving displays to moderate acceleration while you drive.
If you're into hypermiling or eco-driving, want to make your transportation more efficient, or are simply interested in maintaining a green lifestyle, give greenMeter a try! The software can pay for itself within 1-2 tanks of gas.
5 more iPhone apps:
FuelGage: Same functionality as MPG but no graphs. Tracks multiple vehicles and trip totals, good for splitting gas costs. Made by Joseph Kueser. 99 cents
CarStat: Even less powerful and less slick MPG. This one does, however, track fuel costs and multiple cars but charges you a dollar more. Made by Stephen Blessing. $1.99
WHERE: GPS and GasBuddy work together to get you gas prices from the nearest stations. Made by uLocate Communications. Free.Every story has a happy ending!
I guess the question is, was I impressed with the Insight? Well, I had better stop taking cars home to try as I caught the hypermiling bug and pulled the trigger on this one... The answer s YES! It is now mine!!!
Author
Jon Scott
Underriner Motors
eCommerce Manager
406 255-2392
Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia:
Integrated Motor Assist (commonly abbreviated as IMA) is Honda's hybrid car technology, introduced in 1999 on the Insight.
It is a specific implementation of a parallel hybrid. It uses an electric motor mounted between the internal combustion engine and transmission to act as a starter motor, engine balancer, and assist traction motor. In its first generation, IMA could not power the car on electricity alone, and could only use the motor to assist or start the engine. The 2006 Civic Hybrid, however, can activate the electric motor while the vehicle is coasting without turning the internal combustion engine on, though in contrast to Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD) or General Motors and DaimlerChrysler's Global Hybrid Cooperation, the IMA has a less powerful motor/generator which allows the car to slow or stop its rate of deceleration to a lesser extent; it cannot operate without turning over the engine which is directly coupled to its electric motor.
The theory behind IMA is to use regenerative braking to recapture some of the energy lost through deceleration, and reuse that energy later on to help accelerate the vehicle. This has two effects: it increases the rate of acceleration, and it reduces the work required of the petrol engine. The acceleration boost is important as it allows the engine to be scaled down to a smaller but more fuel-efficient variant without rendering the vehicle overly slow or weak. This smaller engine is the primary reason cars equipped with IMA get better highway mileage than their more conventional counterparts.
Additionally, vehicles equipped with IMA can shut off their engine when the vehicle stops and use the electric motor to rapidly spin it back up when the driver releases the brake pedal. They also have a conventional starter as a backup, making it the only production hybrid system which can operate with its high voltage electric system disabled, using only its engine like a traditional vehicle. However, since the IMA also acts as the vehicle's alternator, eventually the 12 volt accessory battery would require an external charge.
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