AFSCME 3357-HOF'S BLOG

Specs on 2005 Honda Accord Hybrid Released

Here's my open plea to General Motors and Daimler Chrysler: License Toyota Hybrid Technology immediately. You will be left behind if you don't. Last year, Toyota's Prius showed that a hybrid car could be an ultra-efficient yet viable daily transportation car. Later this year, Toyota will come out with full hybrid versions of the Highlander and The RX330. Next year, Nissan is planning to release a Hybrid mid-sized Altima using technology licensed from Toyota. Ford claims to have developed its hybrid technology in house for its Escape hybrid SUV, but nevertheless licensed Toyota Technology to avoid patent disputes. All of these vehicles are, to a greater or lesser degree mainstream vehicles that will result in significant hybrid sales. Toyota has publicly said that it will license its technology to all comers. If you don't license the technology now, your competitors who are further down the learning curve will eat you alive. Now on to my assessment of the Honda Accord Hybrid.

Honda has taken a different tack with its hybrids, a "mild" hybrid approach where the electric motor (which Honda calls IMA or intelligent motor assist) kicks in just to give a little boost to the gas engine and to power accessories when the engine shuts down at stoplights etc. The first generation, the Insight, was a little roller-skate of a car that worked to prove the concept. The second generation, on the Civic, showed that it could work in a mass market car, but to some, including me, the Civic Hybrid was a disappointment. It was serviceable but a little pokey compared to the regular civic, and the fuel economy gains were not exceptional, especially on the highway.

Now comes the Accord Hybrid, and the sound you hear is that of the other shoe dropping. Instead of applying the hybrid technology to the bare-bones 4 cylinder model; Honda applied it to the zoomy 6 cylinder with automatic transmission. By combining the IMA electric assist with Honda's VCM (variable cylinder management), a cylinder deactivation system also used on the new Odyssey, Honda has come up with a car that improves the performance of a car that was already near the head of the class in that department, and at the same time blows away the competition when it comes to fuel economy.

The Accord Hybrid combines a 15 horsepower IMA electric motor system with the powerful 3.0 liter 240 horsepower engine of the regular V-6 accord. Honda's VCM system allows the car to shut down half the cylinders during light loads. The result is an ordinary luxury model accord that has EPA ratings of 30/38 and can accelerate from 0-60 in 7.5 seconds. That's with an automatic transmission friends. In so doing, Honda beats the fuel economy of the similarly sized diesel Passat, a car that is about 4 seconds slower 0-60.

With the Hybrid Accord, Honda show's what's possible using state-of the art automotive technology for mass-production popularly priced automobiles. It makes it that much harder for the Big 3 to argue that there's really nothing they can do to improve their fuel economy without hurting expectations of safety or performance.

On the technical side, it's interesting to see what Honda has to say about the relative importance of IMA and VCM on highway and city fuel efficiency:

Combined, these technologies along with improvements in aerodynamics and weight saving features like an aluminum hood, allow the Accord Hybrid to achieve an estimated EPA fuel economy rating of 30 miles per gallon in the city and 37 mpg highway, up from an EPA-rated 21 city / 30 highway for the Accord EX V-6 Sedan - a fuel economy gain of 43 percent and 23 percent, respectively. The Accord's Integrated Motor Assist System (60%) accounts for over half the gains in city fuel efficiency, while Variable Cylinder Management (15%) and idle stop (25%) is responsible for the rest. During highway cruising, the VCM system (57%) provides the majority of the increase, while IMA (38%) and a lower drag coefficient and greater aerodynamics (5%) also contribute.

I also find interesting the technology that Honda employed to keep vibrations from 3-cylinder operation from spoiling the NVH (Noise Vibration and Harshness) characteristics of the car:


HONDA ACCORD HYBRID



2005 Honda Accord Hybrid Sedan Overview Part 1

Torrance, Calif. September 17, 2004 --

Introduction

Since the Accord's launch as a compact hatchback car in 1976, it has earned widespread acclaim as a leader in smart design, superb quality and world-class efficiency. In its 28-year history, the Accord has constantly re-invented itself, going from that original compact hatchback to today's premium mid-sized sedan and coupe. The seventh-generation Accord V-6, released in 2003, once again raised the bar for performance, safety and value in the mid-sized segment with a highly efficient and powerful 3.0-liter, 240-horsepower, SOHC VTEC V-6 engine, 4-wheel disc brakes and a standard anti-lock braking system (ABS) on all models, along with standard features such as air conditioning, power windows, mirrors and door locks, and an AM/FM/CD stereo system. In addition, the 7th-generation Accord was one of the first mid-sized sedans to bring luxury features such as a voice-activated navigation system, XM satellite radio and side curtain airbags to the premium mid-size segment.

In 2005, the Accord further establishes its role as a technology, performance and efficiency leader with the introduction of the Accord Hybrid, the world's first V-6-powered gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle. Boasting the highest fuel efficiency for a V-6-powered automobile, Accord Hybrid utilizes the third generation of Honda's exclusive Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) hybrid system featuring new Variable Cylinder Management (VCM) technology. By combining a high-output V-6 engine and IMA with VCM, the Accord Hybrid Sedan provides even more power - 255 hp versus 240hp in the regular Accord V-6 Sedan - while improving fuel efficiency to an estimated 30 mpg city / 37 highway - better than virtually all 4-cylinder mid-sized sedans and similar to that of the compact class Civic Sedan, already a benchmark for fuel efficiency in the compact car class.

Accord Sedan Accolades

Car and Driver's 10Best List - The sixth and seventh generations of Accord have a current streak of 5 consecutive years on the publication's annual review of new cars. In total an Accord has been named to the list in 18 of 21 years the magazine has compiled this list, the most of any car in over two decades of the magazine's award.

Automobile Magazine

50 Hottest New Cars (2003)
Perfect 10 (1996) - One of 10 most significant cars between 1986-1996)

Intellichoice

2003 - Best Overall Value, Mid-sized Car under and over $21,000
2000-2002 - Best Overall Value, Mid-sized Car under and over $20,500

Maxim Magazine 2004 Car of the Year - Accord 6-Speed EX V-6 Coupe

Consumer Digest 2004 Best Buy, Family Car

Edmunds.com

Best Family Car (Comparison Test, 1/2003)
2004 Consumer's Most Wanted - Sedan under $25,000


The Honda Accord Hybrid Sedan is designed to show that a hybrid powertrain can be an important component in the mainstream of America's automotive landscape that provides exceptional fuel economy while still improving power, performance and comfort.

With the introduction of the 2000 Insight - America's first hybrid-powered car and still the leader of the EPA's annual fuel economy ratings - Honda has been at the forefront of hybrid technology. The company followed up the Insight with a hybrid version of America's best-selling small car, the Civic Hybrid, introduced in March 2002 as the first truly mainstream hybrid and the first application of hybrid technology to an existing, high volume vehicle. With the addition of the Accord Hybrid, Honda becomes the only car company in the United States with three hybrid models available to consumers.

While using a more powerful and efficient version of Honda's IMA system, the Accord Hybrid Sedan also incorporates new, leading edge technologies that engineers are also applying to Honda's main line of cars and trucks.

Among these advanced technologies are its Variable Cylinder Management (VCM) system that allows for deactivation of three of the engine's six cylinders during cruising. The system also features an Active Control Engine Mount (ACM) an Active Noise Control (ANC) system to eliminate the potential effects of three-cylinder operation on cabin noise and engine vibration. This same technology is also being applied on the all-new 2005 Odyssey minivan equipped with the available i-VTEC engine. In addition, the Accord hybrid utilizes a dual scroll hybrid air conditioning compressor that is both belt (engine) and electric motor driven, allowing for more efficient operation of the Accord Hybrid's dual zone automatic climate control system even when the engine is in idle stop mode.

Active Noise Control has been used on other cars including several luxury models and the Chevrolet Corvette. It involves generating a noise signal of opposite polarity of the noise coming into the cabin in an effort to cancel out the offending sound. I have never heard of Active Engine Mounts before, I'm wondering if the engine mounts can be electromagnetically controlled to oppose the polarity of the engine firing. That would be a new one.

There's no word yet on pricing for the Hybrid Accord, but Honda's approach to hybrid technology has been to reject the technologies that are the most expensive to implement (read that - Toyota's), so to be vindicated, they'll have to demonstrate a price advantage. Honda's components don't appear to weigh very much. In the long run, the cost of an automobile tends to vary directly with its weight and parts count. Small electric motors and small batteries weigh lest and cost less than large ones. VCM shouldn't cost much. The market would probably support a price premium of $2000-5000 for the Hybrid Accord, with more in the short run and less in the long run. In the long run after initial technology amortization, honda could implement this technology for less than $2000, and at that price, you'd have to save 1000 gallons of gas at $2.00 per gallon to make it worthwhile on a cost basis alone, that would take about 80,000 of mixed driving, or less than half the useful life of a typical Accord.


automobiles.honda.com: The American Honda Motor Company Site

Car of the Year Contenders

With the Honda Accord Hybrid, it seems to me that the Car of the Year honors will mostly be a three-car heat. The early money was on the Chrysler 300C. It brings Mercedes technology at a Chrysler price with a Bling Bling version of Bently styling. Next was the Scion TC, Toyota put a Camry engine in a (relatively) light weight coupe, priced it right and came up with a winner. Finally the Accord Hybrid takes a bunch of technology that for years has been just around the corner, and puts it together in a package that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Truck of the Year Contenders

I'll be honest with you, I'm not a big truck fan. For what you spend annually on a truck over a car, the average homeowner can pay somebody to fix just about anything that goes wrong with his/her house. I'd say either the Dodge Caravan/ Chrysler Town & Country or the Ford Escape. Granted, both of those started out with a car platform, but then again, I'm not a big truck fan.