Comments on: Plug-In Hybrid Part Of New Honda Accord Line

By: sheilamotown

sheilamotown — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 06:47:04 +0000

HVAC technician training is essential for anyone looking to make a career out of this course. Proper training before licensing and certification is mandated by the state of Oklahoma. HVAC Training in Oklahoma

By: Frankdebate

Frankdebate — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 05:00:06 +0000

The bread-and-butter green car in the Accord line will be the “full” hybrid, which will be the one competing with the Camry and Fusion hybrids–which is why they’re spending more time on it and releasing it next summer.
Like Toyota’s Prius Plug-in, the Accord PHEV is meant to be a niche car–Honda doesn’t want it to steal away sales from their full hybrids, but merely boost the green cred of the Accord brand. As they learn to balance efficiency and performance using electric powertrains, they will probably increase electric-only range in the future. The durability of lithium tech isn’t proven (unlike the NiMH battery packs used in Prius, which is among the most reliable vehicles, green or conventional), so it would not be a good idea to sully the Accord name with a system that is dependent mostly on lithium-sourced electric power.

By: Bob Ridell

Bob Ridell — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 03:04:41 +0000

Yikes, that car took a beating from the ugly stick! Did Home Simpson design this beast?

By: Nelson Lu

Nelson Lu — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 01:36:35 +0000

The article is mostly about C-Max Energi, but it confirms that the Fusion Energi will also have a 20+ mile EV range.

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/07/22/ford-c-max-energi-will-have-20-mile-electric-range-get-95-mpge/

By: YegorT

YegorT — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 19:31:35 +0000

I am amazed by consistent Honda management shortsightedness!
They cannot make a good mass market hybrid for 12 years!

Honda Accord is a sedan with battery pack that is mounted vertically in the trunk against the rear seat back. Again trunk-salon access is blocked! By this Honda cuts its Plug-in potential sales in half !!!

Toyota Camry Hybrid sedan August sales are 3,840 but they are almost doubled by addition of a wagon in same vehicle size class: Prius V: 3,325.
Ford gets it too: Ford introduces Ford Fusion Energi Plug-in sedan but at the same time Ford introduces a wagon/hatchback in the same class: Ford C-MAX Enregi Plug-in.

Should we wait another 12 years until Honda gets it?
They can be out of business by that time. It is a pity – they make great ICE cars

By: Modern Marvel Fan

Modern Marvel Fan — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 19:02:22 +0000

Van wrote: "I drive about 10,000 miles per year. Almost all my drives are short jaunts less than 15 miles. However once a week I drive about 55 miles one way and then return in the afternoon."

If you drive a Volt instead, you will have 60 miles in range extended mode and 140 EV miles per week.

I am NOT sure that Fusion Energi will have the "true EV mode" like the Volt with 20 miles of "full" electric... We shall see...

By: Max Reid

Max Reid — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 17:23:14 +0000

Why are they building in Japan when most of the Accords are sold here. Ideally they should also introduce plugin in a smaller vehicle like Fit at an affordable value.

By: Van

Van — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 17:03:33 +0000

Here is a more modest calculation. I drive about 10,000 miles per year. Almost all my drives are short jaunts less than 15 miles. However once a week I drive about 55 miles one way and then return in the afternoon.

So I rack up about 100 miles a week on short driving and 100 a week of longer range driving. Over a year that would mean I could rack up 5000 miles in EV mode and 5000 in charge sustaining mode. Now if I was driving a Fusion Energy, and getting 3.5 miles per Kwh, then I would rack up about $215 dollars on electric billing and reduce by gas billing by about $415 per year. Not to mention my contribution to local air pollution would drop by more than 50%. So my tota annual l bill, $630 would be would compare favorably to someone who now drives 10,000 at an average of 23 MPG. That bill would be $1630 or $1000 per year saving by buying a Fusion Plug-in.

By: Las Paled

Las Paled — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 13:25:52 +0000

Color me biased but anything less than 30 miles seems not such a great idea. I drive my Volt 1000 miles a month and 800 of those mile are All-Electric while the other 200 are gasoline assisted (Volts engine generally doesn't assist the drive train it primarily just recharges the batteries as I drive). My MPG is about 180 and my electric costs to recharge are about $35 per month.

Driving the Honda I would be almost the exact opposite with only 200 Miles Electric and 800 miles gasoline. Supposing the gas engine can get 40MPG the net MPG would be 50 and the cost to recharge at .109 cents per KWH (my local rate) would be $22 per month.

So it appears that the cost to recharge the vehicle would be about equivilent to buying the additional 5 gallons of gasoline to power the vehicle at 40MPG. Huh??

Unless you drive less than 500 miles per month there is no real value in going all electric for 10-15 miles per charge the exception being if there is a charge station at every end point you park. I find this is not the case and do almost 100% of my charging at home.

By: Andrew L.

Andrew L. — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 13:16:11 +0000

Yeah, I don’t much care for the current Accord styling, and yet I find this one even less visually appealing.