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Originally Posted by Double-Trinity
Right. Basically, the electric drive is more of a technique to extend the "coasting" range of the car, rather than a replacement for the gasoline engine drive. There are a lot of situations where I would find that very nice though, such as going on gradual declines where I lose speed while coasting down, I could use the EV mode to maintain my speed without having to deal with engine-on at low throttle creating tons of pumping losses. If used strategically, even this fairly low-powered electric drive could dramatically cut fuel consumption.
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True, and I didn't mean to imply that I don't use the EV mode much. I use it just about every time I coast, unless I need to stop faster. It's fun to see if I can get all the way to the red light, or the top of the next hill without the engine starting back up. Plus, even when it's not in full EV mode, every bit of assist is a little bit of power that the ICE doesn't have to generate, so fuel is saved.
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Originally Posted by Double-Trinity
I would also be interested in seeing if the '06 Civic Hybrid could be set up with the Manual-IMA mod that a lot of the Insight drivers have installed, where the electric can be controlled independently of the regular throttle. On the '06, I presume in certain situations, you could go into a valves-sealed coast, then manually run full-out electric drive, which might be good for getting rolling from a stop, or accelerating on a slight decline as well. Applying this mod, plus a larger battery pack could also enable a Plug-in hybrid optoin as well.
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That would probably make a big difference. I can only get about 3-4 bars of assist in pure EV mode. If I increase the throttle more, the ECU decides to turn the ICE back on to give me more power. If I could get 100% assist without the ICE turning on, I probably could maintain a constant speed, and even accelerate at lower speeds. Of course, given the small size of the pack, it wouldn't last long. It would be fun though! Where can I found more info on this manual-IMA mod?