Hope some one can help! I ordered a HCH-II conditional to a test drive. I was able to find one while out of town during Easter. I took it out for a test drive and it would not go in to Auto Stop. However, after shuting off the defrost it seems to start working.

I was able to maintain a speed of about 30MPH (50km/h), but the car would not go into EV Mode. Is there a method or trick to this; like the defrost for Auto Stop? Any special criteria?

Thanks.

EV mode is discussed in some detail on several threads here (http://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/e...brid.6826.html for example). It does take a little bit of practice to activate it; you need to back off the accelerator to get the FE indicator pegged out at 100, then very slowly increase the pressure on the accelerator. Depending on your speed, you should be able to see the FE indicator stay at 100 and then note one or more assist bars (up to 4 is usual) as well.

Battery SOC will also affect it. Did you happen to notice if it was above 4 bars? When I test drove mine, it had been sitting on the lot for awhile, and I remember the SOC was low. If you saw the Charge/Assist trying to charge most of the time, even only one bar, you may have trouble getting it into EV mode. Plus, it took me some practice (not much, but some), to get it to go into EV.

I don't have an 06, so don't trust me, but I thought you get the EV mode at speeds above 35?

Yes, I've seen EV mode at speeds > 35. At least in the 45mph range.

Thank you all for your replies...Much Apperciated.


Yes, I was told the car was on the lot for a few days. I noticed digital white bars on the left side of the tach showing 2 or 3 bars when I started. By the time I returned to the dealer it looked as if there only 2 bars missing from the Max reading. I assume this was the Hybrid Battery status.

The dealer told me they had 750KM (465 Miles) from the first tank doing test drives. Thats seems good to me having a variety of drivers behind the wheel. I hope to do much better than that when mine arrives. I'm hoping a tank will provide me an average of 1000 KM (600 Miles) per tank. If my driving is 50/50 city/highway, after I adapt to being good hybrid driver.

I suspect that it went into Autostop because it warmed sufficently and did not have anything do with the defroster. That might have just been a coincidence. EV mode is totally doable (I've done it up to 68 miles per hour) as you'll see in the other posts. But it does take some practice and it solely dependant on how much load is on the engine.

Also, it's nothing like the Prius, and frankly, I am not sure what all the fuss is about.

Support the Troops - Drive a Hybrid!

Autostop does not engage when the defrost is on because defrost automatically starts the AC. If you run defrost and deliberately turn off the AC you can get it to autostop.

I think you can get EV mode at any speed above 25 or so, but it gets tougher the faster you go. When you're moving fast it takes more power from the electric motor to have any effect, so the slightest twitch of your foot on the gas pedal starts the ICE.

The easiest way to see the EV mode in action is when coasting on a slight downslope. But the EV mode on the HCH is not very practical. It has entertainment value, like a video game, but it's not very significant for overall fuel efficiency.

2006 HCH Alabaster Silver w/Navi
2003 Honda Accord LX

Hi,

If, when you took the car for a test drive, there was only 2-3 bars for the battery level, for sure the car will not autostop. The battery level was too low. Probably, while driving there was always 2-3 greens bars showing the battery was getting charge while driving.

Unless you always fill up gaz to the cap and drive it until there is no dot on your fuel level, you will probably have hard time getting 1000km every tank. It's not impossible but most likely, it will be more in the 900km figure.
On my current tank (best one so far), I average 4.6L/100KM and have 655km on it. My fuel level is a bit over 1/4 of gaz left in my tank. I drive it very carrefuly in order to maintain that 4.6 and I still hope to get 4.5 before my next fillup.

To get in EV mode, have the instant L/100km showing, drive to a constant speed. To be easy, let say 30km/h and just perfom a little depress on the accelerator and when you see the instant L/100km dropping to zero, push back slowly on the accelerator. First to have the regen bar going away and after, you should see assist bar 2 or 3 max for that speed. If the instant L/100km is still to 0, you're in EV. If you press too much, the engine will re-engage. But with a little practice, it will get easy.

But I really love my car...

Soleil24
Quebec, Canada 06 HCH owner

I tend to agree. For awhile, I used EV mode a lot, to help me crest hills, etc. But I found that it's almost impossible to recover all of that SOC with just braking, so you're going to end up paying the piper sooner or later with forced charging.

Unfortunately, I usually found that in the morning, especially on cooler mornings, the battery pack would be cold and down to four bars because of "EV-ing" to much the day before. The car would "reward" me by recharging the batteries on a cold engine. Not my best mpg trips...

Also, using EV will cycle your battery pack more, which may reduce the life. But let's not get into THAT discussion again...