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Originally Posted by Working Stiff
.... so am curious about needing to warm the Hybrid up. I have never heard of this. What is the issue?
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Hi WS,
Any internal combustion engine has an optimal operating temperature, typically hot. In the past cars needed to be warmed-up before the car could be moved. Now days most cars get warmed after they're driven for a few blocks.
In the case of the Civic Hybrids we have at home if the outside temperature is below 15 Celsius it could take a couple of kms before the autostop starts working. Above 20 celsius it seems to do autostop from the start.
Another thing in the HCH is that the FE during the first few kms is very low, around 10 DIN (DIN = L/100km). After you've driven a few kms the DIN goes down to 5 or better depending on road conditions, driving, temp., etc.
Also the large battery in a hybrid is charged when you're going downhill or slowing down. If the charge gets too low a forced re-gen occurs, this uses some of the ICE energy affecting the cars aceleration and FE performance.
I believe this is the same for all hybrids. With short drives you probably won't take advantage of the electrical motor, except for the easier starting. It can actually be counter productive to have a battery that gets charged and not used, plus the extra weight and cost.
You can see in my signature the difference between my HCH driven for longer trips (over 1/2 hour and over 30 km each trip), and my wife's hybrid driven for short trips (10 minutes and less than 10 km per trip). I can easily get trips below 4 DIN, my wife has a hard time getting 5 DIN. This is now with temps between 20 and 30 Celsius, in colder weather we anticipate a bigger gap.
Sorry for the long note. I just don't want you to be disappointed if you get a hybrid and find that in short trips your FE seems the same as non-hybrid cars or possibly worst.
