... but now they do.

Since I have become concerned with keeping my mileage up, a number of behaviors in other drivers, and in civil engineering in general, that did not use to bother me at all, now do. Things like:

- people that slow way, way down before turning right, causing me to lose that precious momentum

- traffic light creepers, who stop a couple car lengths behind the car in front, and then slowly creep forward, causing my autostop to disengage

- toll booths and fast food drive-through lanes, for the same reason

- stupid traffic lights that change my green light to red, because somebody coming from the intersecting light arrives ever so slightly before I do. (The way I see it, if the other guy gets the green light, both of us are going to have to stop anyway. So you are guaranteed of having us both stop. If the person with the existing red light had maybe a 5 second delay before causing the light to change, then those 50-50 situations would favor the green light person, thus saving gas mileage.)

- traffic lights in the middle of the incline of a hill. Going either way, up or down, its an absolute killer.

I'm sure there are plenty of others... :-/

Most of what you're annoyed about is actually design flaws (as I see it) in Honda's IMA system. Better auto-stop and the ability to putt along on electric alone would go a long way to improving their sales, and customer satisfaction.

I'm not sure why slowing down causes you concern, as a hybrid driver you get to recuperate some of that energy, whereas everyone else wastes it completely.

The rest of what your talking about does not affect Prius drivers, in fact they love the situations when they get to drive along at low speeds in stealth mode... But then again, a Civic and a Prius aren't exactly equivalent.

2001 Prius Photos       2005 Prius Photos
'97 Prius Simulation Prius inner workings

Even though you're recapturing some of your energy into the battery when you slow down, you're still losing net energy - not all of that kinetic energy gets converted into electrical energy with 100% efficiency. So, whether you drive a Prius or a Civic, losing momentum unnecessarily wastes energy. You may be right that Prius' stealth mode is slightly less wasteful when it comes to getting that momentum back.

When it comes to The Game of raising that little blue number (in my HCH), every little thing that causes me to gratuitously lose momentum frustrates me so much! Coyote really gave voice to a few of my newfound pet peeves.

Another pet peeve: summer heat! It kills me to blast my AC and watch my mpg drop, but it kills me even more to sit and bake.

In theory, Honda could implement an EV mode. The ~13 hp motor is powerful enough to spin both the wheels & the engine up to ~20 miles per hour. That would be more energy efficient than starting/stopping the engine for short crawls.

Also, when I run into one of those people who "stop short & then crawl" I don't move. I just sit in one spot, let the gap open up, and wait for the light to turn green.




You only recuperate ~80% of the energy. The rest is wasted in battery/motor/wiring resistance.

It's more efficient to not brake & keep your momentum.

troy

Yes, I understand that recuperating the energy is only partial, but the point I was trying to make is that now that your are a hybrid driver you should be slightly less concerned with having to slow down, as compared to a non-hybrid driver who loses 100% of that momentum energy. I find it frustrating too, but more frustrating when I'm driving my conventional car than the Prius... At least I have the chance to recuperate that energy in the Prius, as compared to none of that energy with the Colt.

2001 Prius Photos       2005 Prius Photos
'97 Prius Simulation Prius inner workings

"Most of what you're annoyed about is actually design flaws (as I see it) in Honda's IMA system."

Things that didn't use to bug me, but now they do:

- Turning an observational attempt at hybrid humor into yet another episode of the "my hybrid is better than yours" pissing contest.

Laugh Out Loud!



Yeah. Honda *could* have given the Insight/Civic/Accord an EV-only mode upto ~20mph. It would require spinning the engine, but it could be done. They simply chose not to.

troy