Battery Upgrade?
 

I was reading the improved specifications of the new Insight's batteries, and wondered if an upgrade/retrofit would be something that Honda might offer someday for the Civics. More output and less weight with a retuning of the software should dramatically improve city MPG and/or performance, you think?

Opinions?

Don

Re: Battery Upgrade?
 

The Insight is only a 10hp Hybrid Engine/battery combo - the Civic Hybrid is a 20hp Hybrid Engine/battery conbo. The technology is the same - the battery is smaller so the seats could fold down. - the MPG is less in the Insight due to the smaller gain of HP in the electric motor/battery size.

A rough comparison is the HCHII uses roughly "D" sized batteries in the Hybrid battery module and the Insight uses roughly "C" sized batteries ( about 1/2 the size and 1/2 the amps )

As for the 12v battery - you don't want one any larger as the dc/dc converter that charges the 12v battery does not have enough reserves to keep a larger battery charged without frying itself. (it will work for a while but the dc/dc converter will fry and it is a lot of money to repair. )

Re: Battery Upgrade?
 

Some minor corrections:

The 2010 Insight uses seven modules of 12 "D" size batteries for a total output of 100.8 volts and a capacity of 5.75 ampere hours.

The electric motor is a 10kw delivering 13hp at 1,500rpm.

According to Honda while the IMA in the Insight is more efficient and weighs less, it is less powerful overall.

As far as FE goes, early reports indicate that the two cars will be very close, I am averaging 48mpg in my Insight. :shade:

Re: Battery Upgrade?
 

Corrected - the pre-release info stated what I said - the Honda website states what you do.

The Honda spec pages show:
for Civic Hybrid
EPA Mileage Estimates [2] /Capacities
Hybrid
CVT (City/Highway/Combined) 40/45/42
for Insight
EPA Mileage Estimates [4] /Capacities
EX LX
CVT (City/Highway/Combined) 40/43/41

I got the IMA HP numbers from the EPA site. My civic brochure show different numbers too. your numbers are what the Honda web site show. The EPA 2010 site is missing again. Guess the change the numbers at will or maybe they confuse the horsepower and kilowatt figures.

Re: Battery Upgrade?
 

It would be nice when the batteries finally die to be able to replace them with more efficient ones, but I really don't see it being enough of a profit center for Honda to do.

I'm hoping that by the time my Insight batteries die, a car that only gets 50mpg will be a joke.

Re: Battery Upgrade?
 

I'm just now coming up on 60k miles on my '06 HCHII, and even with a change to standard radial tires, haven't seen any significant drop in fuel economy. The batteries seem to be just fine, but I'm just curious how good they *could* be in the same footprint they occupy now with updated technology. My plan is to drive the HCHII until the wheels fall off, and that may include a battery refresh after it's 10 years old or so. Thanks everyone for your responses. :)