Re: [DMCForum] the EV1...

["Ryan Wright" <ryanpwright@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 9/11/07, Martin Gutkowski <martin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Hmmmm, not sure I believe you :-) How big is the petrol engine? What
>  kind of performance do you get? I bet I can name a couple of Euro cars
>  that are bigger/faster and more economical and run on diesel...

You don't believe me? Are you kidding me? Google it. EPA is 68mpg.
It's trivially easy to get 70+. Some drivers are averaging over 80; It
looks like I'll average 74mpg for this tank of gas (couple hundred
miles left to go). I've done over 90mpg on my 12 mile commute when the
temperatures and such are right. I have pictures of my instrument
cluster showing these numbers I'd be happy to post and hundreds of
other Insight drivers have done the same. I have a spreadsheet for all
of the fuel I've bought in the past few months of ownership showing
miles driven and gallons burned, I will post that, too, if you still
don't buy it.

The engine is a 1.0 liter 3 cylinder. 0-60 time is 10.6 seconds. 0-40
is very fast, almost as fast as my DeLorean because the electric motor
adds a lot more assist at lower speeds. Acceleration after 40mph is
where the slowness comes in.

The car is all aluminum. Curb weight is 1878lbs for my 5 speed with A/C.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Insight

>  (I HATE hybrids, they just don't make sense from a physics point of view!)

Actually, they make perfect sense. You have a car with a tiny engine,
and that's where you get good fuel economy. But they accelerate like
shit so you add an electric motor. Now that electricity has to come
from somewhere - where to get it? Regenerative braking gives me most
of my power. The engine can charge the batteries but will only do so
when they get low, and of course your mileage suffers as the
conversion losses stack up. I don't let my batteries get that low; I
use regenerative braking at every opportunity and have not had to
charge the batteries off the engine yet.

>  I reckon Honda aren't pushing the Insight becasue it's more expensive to
>  build than they sell it for.

I don't have that data but I honestly doubt it. They sold 13,200 of
'em over 6 years. I doubt they'd have sold that many if it was a loss.

My honest opinion, and this is based on no facts as I don't have
numbers, but my opinion is they made a profit on the car but it was a
very, very small profit, nowhere near the profits they make on other
cars, and that's why they killed it.

My point is, though: They can make extremely efficient vehicles.
They've done it in the past, they're just choosing not to now. The
Insight was $20,000 brand spanking new. If they weren't making enough
money, fuck it - sell them for $25,000. People would still buy them if
they knew about them.

I would.

-Ryan


 
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