Mine does. Well, "cold" being a relative term. 70-80 degree morning, start the car, drive about 500 feet, hit stop sign, drive another 500 feet, hit second stop sign, auto-stop engages. Temp pointer is at about second or third mark from left.

Also, someone else said in another thread that Eco doesn't come on with full assist. Mine does that, too. Smooth but quick accel, assist bars move over to the right, eco comes on, stays for a sec or two, eco goes off, assist drops back down to center.

 

Autostop engages once the catalytic is up to temp, which is well before the engine itself is up to temp.

I play the assist and eco peek-a-boo game all the time. Its really hard to get in the goldilocks spot where IMA will help in eco, but not so much where the computer just decides that 6 cylinders is needed instead. The more assist bars lit up, the closer to the edge you are. It also depends on where you are in the gear's range, and will change when the gear shifts, as engine load changes. I see this as I go from eco in 4th to no eco in 5th, then back to eco after a few seconds. It's pretty impressive that the control system reacts so visibly so quickly to what are imperceptible changes to the driver.

 

The other feature I believe Honda should add to the IMA, that would help the Accord more than any of their cars, is a clutch to separate the motor from the engine. That way, it can use regen with no engine braking, and could possibly get the car rolling from a stop on all electric, followed by pushing in the clutch and restarting the engine.[/QUOTE]

The Prius already does this. No clutch required!

I think HSD is a marvel and looking at it, makes simple sense in that all 'gears' are engaged all the time, gas and electric are always being used in the most efficient ways, and there are more ways to improve upon HSD for future models, like towing power in the Hybrid Highlander.
HSD is more versatile in charging AND giving electric power on the fly. No cone/belt CVT or conventional auto tranny.
Plus the Atkinson/Miller cycle reduces emissions with the electric motors more than making up for power loss. Seems to be the way to go, IMHO...

 

Is this correct? So, the Honda CAN, (if needed due to a malfunction) run only on the ICE, but the Prius (or any vehicle using HSD) cannot ??

 

The Prius already does this. No clutch required!

I think HSD is a marvel and looking at it, makes simple sense in that all 'gears' are engaged all the time, gas and electric are always being used in the most efficient ways, and there are more ways to improve upon HSD for future models, like towing power in the Hybrid Highlander.
HSD is more versatile in charging AND giving electric power on the fly. No cone/belt CVT or conventional auto tranny.
Plus the Atkinson/Miller cycle reduces emissions with the electric motors more than making up for power loss. Seems to be the way to go, IMHO...[/QUOTE]

Well, HSD is a more complicated design. The good thing about IMA is it is less complex. Also, considering the FE of the vehicles are similar I think IMA has its advantage there. We will have to see what the new civic does with IMA. It will tell us if honda is going in the right direction.

 

I AGREE!

This could all be easily done in a car such as the HCH that is Drive By Wire. Sotware could do all this, and with little cost. This whole notion of feather foot driving is annoying to explain to people especially because i know the pedal is talking to a program. Just make the program do auto feather foot for me.

 

AFAIK, yes.

As long as the 12v has enough charge left, you will be able to start and run- there is a 12v starter. As long as the IMA can generate enough energy and flow it to the 12v via the main battery, it will replenish the 12v. If the batteries are damaged such that they will not even allow charge to flow through them (not store, just act as a wire- even a dead battery will do that), then you are out of luck, or at least are driving without any means to recharge the 12v, and have what- 25 miles or so until you lose the engine. I'm not that up to speed on where/exactly how the 144v gets downconverted to 12v.

From what I understand, the Toyota and Fords cannot run without the main battery or electric motor, though there is an 'inspection mode' that shuts off the electric motor for emissions testing.

From a standpoint of ultimate worst-case reliabilty, KISS always wins. IMA is certainly less complicated than HSD in some respects, and has a little more redundancy. But if IMA drops out or the battery is physically damaged, you're still SOL just like in an HSD.

 

Hi Finman:

___The Prius’ HSD has many things going for it but as far as a marvel, it has one huge and glaring design flaw. ICE spin up above 40 mph for MG1 protection and ICE starting torque are its Achilles heel today. HSD is throwing away massive amounts of energy above 40 mph and until that is fixed; it will only have good but not excellent FE at highway speeds and good but not excellent FE for most Prius drivers no matter what kind of environment they drive in. Once that single HSD design flaw is conquered, look out. There will not be another automobile company in the world that will touch them … Unless Honda clutches the single MGSet like we have been talking about for years?

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

 

Alex A -- Somewhere in these posts is a link to a Mother Earth News article that tells of guys (I think they're all guys) who are putting plug-in batteries in Priuses and getting 100 mpg. (Though they cost $12K.) You might check it out.