For those who don't know john1701a is a Prius owner and lover who maintains an (mostly) excellent website at:
http://john1701a.com
I've learned a lot from his site but he is getting on my nerves. He is all about HSD and the wonderful "full" hybrid system the Prius uses. I've got no problem with that, the Toyota is brilliant, no doubt about it. My problem with him is that he constently picks on IMA calling it an "assist only" system.
Check this out:
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7-02-2005 Defeat Auto-Stop. A post today about Accord-Hybrid was rather amusing. Someone asked if there was a way to defeat that feature, preventing the engine from shutting off when you stop. They claimed this is what the "ECON" button in Civic-Hybrid is for. That couldn't be further from the truth. "ECON" is short for "economy", which means pressing it will instruct the system to stop the engine as quickly as possible. In other words, the A/C will automatically be stopped to allow the engine to shut off to save gas... hence the economy. It is not to defeat, it is to encourage. But all that owner understood was that the on & off cycling of the engine in heavy commute traffic was really annoying. Too bad. He should have studied the difference between "assist" and "full" hybrids more carefully before making a purchase decision. After all, I clearly can't be blamed for not pointing out that shortcoming. I want all automakers to embrace the "full" design. So I'm doing the best I can to spread the word without (hopefully) upsetting existing owners.
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7-05-2005 Honda Improvements. Details on their upcoming new model Civic-Hybrid were released today. They reduced the weight of the engine, which decreased the cost and increased the efficiency. The motor muscle got increased by 50%, raising the power to 15kW. They also enabled an electric-only drive. I'm not sure what kind of gain that will actually translate to, but the limited amount of electricity available from the "assist" system (single-motor, share-the-same-shaft arrangement with the engine) simply cannot deliver as much as a "full" system (dual-motor, split-power-device configuration). So the expected benefit will likely come only from stop & slow conditions, no stealth like Prius. No mention of emissions improvement was made. It was interesting that nothing about the transmission was included either.
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His site is full of these little digs at the Honda system.
Well Mr. know it all John my lifetime mileage with my whimpy little "assist" IMA Honda is currently at 60.5 mpgs and rising. Your "full" hybrid is at 48.9 mpg lifetime according to your website. Perhaps you (John) should have"
studied the difference between "assist" and "full" hybrids more carefully before making a purchase decision".
