It's official. Manual transmissions are making a comeback.

Kevin McMurtrie wrote:
> But the Accord Hybrid is rather different. As far as I can tell, the
> electric motor is to keep the engine running smoothly when it's
> switching in and out of gas saving modes. The power meter shows little
> activity and the 15 HP electric motor is tiny compared to the 240 HP gas
> motor.

thats kinda cool. i wonder if they can use that in place of balance shafts?

In article >,
SoCalMike > wrote:

> Kevin McMurtrie wrote:
> > But the Accord Hybrid is rather different. As far as I can tell, the
> > electric motor is to keep the engine running smoothly when it's
> > switching in and out of gas saving modes. The power meter shows little
> > activity and the 15 HP electric motor is tiny compared to the 240 HP gas
> > motor.
>
> thats kinda cool. i wonder if they can use that in place of balance shafts?

It's probably technically possible but I bet it would eat a lot of power.

How much does the balancer weigh? The 05 Accord Hybrid engine seems to
rev up slowly compared to my simple old 97 Civic HX. It's the one thing
that disappoints me a little - major downshift lag when stepping on the
gas. It makes me miss a 5 speed manual.

In article >, Kevin McMurtrie > wrote:

>But the Accord Hybrid is rather different. As far as I can tell, the
>electric motor is to keep the engine running smoothly when it's
>switching in and out of gas saving modes. The power meter shows little
>activity and the 15 HP electric motor is tiny compared to the 240 HP gas
>motor.

True, but note that the vast majority of the time (or at least on
the wimpy EPA certification cycles!) very little of that 240 hp is
actually used. To be sure, the Accord is a lot heavier and less
aerodynamic than the Insight. So it would benefit from a bigger
battery. But (as you no doubt know) the proportion of battery to
ICE size doesn't need stay the same as ICE power goes ballistic.

In rec.autos.makers.honda Kevin McMurtrie > wrote:
> But the Accord Hybrid is rather different. As far as I can tell, the
> electric motor is to keep the engine running smoothly when it's
> switching in and out of gas saving modes. The power meter shows little
> activity and the 15 HP electric motor is tiny compared to the 240 HP gas
> motor.

It seems to be exactly the same as the Civic, almost the same as the
original Insight, and completely different from the Prius and Escape.

The point about the motor being tiny is true, though. The benefit from
idle-stop is still there, as is the cleanliness of the engine at initial
takeoff, where the ICE wouldn't normally be very efficient.
The Accord IMA produces 12% more hp than the Civic.


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Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8,-122.5

In rec.autos.makers.honda Kevin McMurtrie > wrote:
> How much does the balancer weigh? The 05 Accord Hybrid engine seems to
> rev up slowly compared to my simple old 97 Civic HX. It's the one thing
> that disappoints me a little - major downshift lag when stepping on the
> gas. It makes me miss a 5 speed manual.

I don't think it would affect the balancer at all. On the other hand,
there wouldn't be a flywheel, since the IMA is effectively the flywheel.
That would help smoothness at idle.

Engine RPM when blipping the throttle could be part "drive by wire".
There's a lot of computerized engine control involved. The Civic still has
a throttle cable. I don't know about the Accord. The Ford Escape does
not. In the Ford, blipping the throttle does absolutley nothing unless you
go beyond about 2/3 throttle, at which point the RPM climbs rather slowly,
maybe 2 seconds to 3000 RPM.

It could also be the heavy flywheel affect of the IMA.

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Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8,-122.5