When waiting to pick up my new HCH2 a little over a week ago I was reading the Honda brochure which talked about improved fuel economy occurring when driving under 35 mph. They talked about feather touching the pedal and something happening to the fuel injection to optimize FE. I've noticed my MPG gauge reading between 50-60 mpg when in this 30-35 mph zone on city streets. Is this something nypermilers exploit? Does anyone know what's going on internally?

 

When it reads 100MPG, your valves are closed and no gas is being used. The 30-35 MPH means a steady speed, not going uphill. You will then go into EV mode and will be propelled solely by the electric motor. However, this can occur at many speeds, not just 30-35 MPH. As you drive your HCH more, it will break in and you will get used to how it rides. You will start putting it into EV mode without even noticing what you are doing. Just keep practicing and read Tarabell's article if you haven't.

 

Where do I find this Tarabell article? Did a search and couldn't find it. The only indication that you are in EV mode is when the gauge reads 100MPG? That's pretty cool. Is there a limit to the amount of time you can run in EV mode without having to recharge?

 

Tarabell's article.

Yes, the only visual indicator is when the MPG goes of the scale (100MPG+ and not moving). The limit to EV mode depends on your charge mostly, also your speed when entering the glide is a factor. I've held the EV/GLIDE mode for about three miles one day, I kept thinking it was going to pull out and lower the MPG display, but it kept on going.

 

There are two kinds of EV. Gliding is when the iFCD reads 100mpg and you are not showing any white bars of assist or any green bars of charge. You can go on like this for as long as the terrain allows without using any juice. I've done 14 miles like this which netted me over 2,000mpg (0.3L/100km).

The other kind is EV assist where you can get up to 4 bars (some people have gotten 5 even) of white assist while your iFCD is pegged at 100mpg. This is will run the battery down rather quickly. It's fine if you are gliding with a lot of battery and need a little extra juice to crest a small hill, but too much of it will force you into regen mode and cost fuel economy.

I try to spend as much time as possible in glide and I rarely use assist. Remember that at glide, the 100mpg displayed is wrong--it's really 0gpm which is INFINATELY better than 100mpg . You can see this by switching to metric mode.

Edit: You can glide at any speed too, not just below 35mph. You can get assist at higher speeds that 35mph too if you are on a downhill slope.