The streets in downtown Los Angeles , Calif. , fuss with natural process – particularly on a Friday afternoon . People adjudicate desperately to beat the traffic to get out of the city , only to stimulate , well , more traffic . On any given Friday afternoon , any large city like L.A. can be fuddle for a day after Thanksgiving stampede at a Best Buy .
suppose , for a mo , that you ’re one of these frantic commuters . You use the subway to get in and out of the urban center and , for the most part , it works well for you . You do n’t have to worry about dealings ; you just have to navigate through the streets on foot until you get to your train station . In fact , you routinely dodge past taxi cab and clip your movements through streets full of moving gondola as if you ’re part of one prominent , well - oiled machine . As you approach the corner in which the entrance to your train station lie in , you have just one more busy street to cross . Once you ’re in the zona , you move with guy - like precision . Just one more street , and then suddenly – a world bank check .
Within one lane of your final check , you dive out of the way of a car horn - blowing Honda Civic as its screeches to a halt about 10 foot ( 3 meters ) past where you were just standing . Lucky for you , it missed . You never find out the auto come – it ’s like it appear out of nowhere . You wonder , have your sensation of sight and audience failed you ? Suddenly you realize that you did see it , but you thought it was parked – and you never really heard it . In reality , the Honda Civic that just about creamed you was run . Well , sort of . You see , it ’s a Honda Civic Hybrid . And like magic , the engine in a hybrid Honda Civic only ply when it needs to .
For the most part , hybrid vehicle do n’t stray too far by from the typical mundane railcar . Nevertheless they are unique in some ways . The most glaring remainder come in the soma of the electrical component part . On the next page , you ’ll learn Honda ’s secret behind its hybrid success . You ’ll also figure out why you were almost run down while crossing that busy street . Turn the Thomas Nelson Page to meet Honda ’s Integrated Motor Assist ( IMA ) organization .
The Honda Civic Hybrid System
If ever two self-propelling concept were made to amount together , the Honda Civic and intercrossed technology are it – a perfect match . Honda build the first Civic in 1972 to compete with the growing turn of American subcompact car cars that were designed and built in response to the originate concern of increasing gas price . The first generation Civic finagle between 40 and 45 miles per gallon ( 17 and 19.1 klick per liter ) depend on driving conditions .
Over the next 20 years , Honda make a reputation as a fuel - effective car manufacturer . Every fomite sport small , mellow - revving engines that were passing efficient and reliable . It ’s a reputation that continue to hold true today .
To date , Honda has maintained its commitment to pocket-size engine . No yield fomite including those built domestically or in Japan feature an railway locomotive with more than six cylinders and a deracination over 4.0 l . When Honda decided to merge its hybrid engineering into an existing passenger car , the obvious alternative was the Civic . In 2004 , Honda made the leap . By taking a received Civic and mating it with its IMA system of rules , Honda created an even more fuel - efficient fomite .
If you were to pull the engines out of both a received Civic and a Honda Civic Hybrid and place them next to each other , you would likely point out the similarities end with the flywheel assemblies . Instead of a flywheel , the intercrossed Civic has an electric motor mounted on the remnant of the crankshaft . It ’s this motor that earn up the galvanic factor of the hybrid organisation . The motor is constructed of mellow - denseness coil wind and high-pitched - carrying into action magnets . The galvanising motor double as a starter motor and is used to provided propulsion and assist under several driving precondition .
The trick to how the IMA and similar hybrid system work is the relationship between the electrical motor and the locomotive engine . Honda ’s IMA system deputise the locomotive ’s interior burning ability for electric power under certain destiny . We ’ll let you know what those specific driving condition are on an forthcoming pageboy . But for now , it ’s good to get it on that the energy for the electric motor comes from a nickel - metallic element hydride ( NiMH ) battery . The barrage is charged under deceleration , in particular braking . The Civic Hybrid has a regenerative braking system that works to translate the electrical motor into an galvanising generator under braking . This vigor is then stored in the battery for future manipulation .
Up next , we ’ll get to the junkie and bolt of the Civic ’s hybrid locomotive engine .
Honda Civic Hybrid Specs
So , you may be wondering what exactly makes a hybrid car a hybrid , anyway ? What ’s the dispute between a hybrid and a typical car ? The short answer is , not a whole lot . But there is a lot of advanced electric technology in a crossbreed that ’s slightly transparent to the driver and passengers in a cross . In a nutshell , hybrid power , as in the case of the Honda Civic , Toyota Prius and other popular hybrid models on the marketplace , is part internal burning and part electric power . The two system employment in unison to move the fomite . For an in depth understanding of hybrid engines and cars , understand the HowStuffWorks.com clause , How Hybrid Cars Work .
The 2009 Civic hybrid locomotive engine is Honda ’s fourth - multiplication gasoline - electric power plant . Similar to the engines found in the rest of Honda ’s batting order , the Civic Hybrid is equipped with an inline 4 - piston chamber engine feature a three - leg version of the company ’s VTEC ( variable valve timing and hook electronic control ) system . It ’s hollo the i - VTEC ( thinking - VTEC ) scheme . The three - microscope stage i - VTEC scheme expend three separate stages of valve ascendence to optimize efficiency at humble - rpm , high - rpm and at idle . The three stage utilise five rocking chair branch assemblies subject on locomotive engine rpm and repel conditions . Computers dissect all the variable and line up the camshaft profiles to maximize great power and efficiency . To help in the engine ’s overall efficiency , the computer brain of the system close down and seals the burning chambers in each cylinder when the locomotive is at idle , under slowing . This measure adds an additional 10 percent fuel efficiency over the first - propagation Civic Hybrid engine .
Keeping along the lines of efficiency , Honda go through originative friction - reducing expression methods when build the internals of the engine . For instance , the pistons are craft from die - cast aluminum that does n’t spread out much . The resolution is less elaboration and decreased friction under extreme temperatures . The cylinder wall have been tableland - honed , and ion - plot plunger ringing make for silky smooth operation under force .
A continuously variable transmission ( CVT ) feeds the engine ’s exponent to the front steering wheel . harmonise to the manufacturer , the 1.3 - litre locomotive engine provides the Civic Hybrid with 110 horsepower and 123 pound - foot ( 167 newton - beat ) of torque . And , as you might have guess , the fuel economy phone number are reasonably good , too . The Honda Civic Hybrid is said to accomplish 40 miles per gal ( 17 kilometers per litre ) in the metropolis and 45 miles per gallon ( 19.1 kilometre per l ) on the highway . For equivalence , the standard Honda Civic gets 26 miles per gallon ( 11.1 kilometers per liter ) in the city and 34 mile per Imperial gallon ( 14.5 kilometre per l ) on the highway .
So , maybe you ’ve had enough of all of these numeral and you just require to know what it ’s like to actually drive a car like the civic hybrid ? Well , scan the next page to find out .
Driving the Honda Civic Hybrid
To experience a somewhat low-pitched - tech example of the intercrossed driving experience , you do n’t have to go any far than your local golf game course . Have you ever driven a gas - powered golf pushcart ? Well , if you ’ve never driven a intercrossed cable car , the golf game cart deterrent example may be the best way to key how it feel – sort of .
If you ’re familiar with gun - powered golf game go-cart operation , then you know that the locomotive engine in the cart does n’t unceasingly run while you ’re on the fairway hitting your approach shot to the greens . Instead , the locomotive engine comes on as before long as you press the gas foot pedal . cross vehicles , like the Honda Civic Hybrid , work in a exchangeable way of life . Of course , the Civic Hybrid is far more in advance – and then there ’s also that bit about the electric motor , too . And that ’s why the Integrated Motor Assist ( IMA ) system that you learned about in the first place is so crucial to the Civic Hybrid .
Here ’s how the Honda Civic Hybrid ’s i - VTEC locomotive engine and galvanizing motor work together in various driving conditions :
Pretty coolheaded material , ripe ? And all of this play seamlessly so that the driver does n’t have to do anything other than labor the car as he or she normally would .
If you ’d wish more entropy about the Honda Civic Hybrid and other hybrid vehicle engineering science , play along the link on the next page .
