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The Honda Plug-in Hybrid Platform

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(automobiles.honda.com) Honda's Plug-In Hybrid Platform was introduced at the 2010 LA Auto Show. Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles are a "featured initiative" on Honda's website. It is meant for mid-size cars and it is a hybrid drive system where the driver can plug in to recharge the battery pack, versus being 100% beholden to gasoline. Their IMA system is being reserved for the "smaller cars", the Insight, CR-Z and Civic.

The plug-in concept vehicle they've shown has an all-electric range of 10-15 miles, with a top speed (electric) of 62 mph. Fully recharging the battery will take only 2-2.5 hours using a standard 120-volt outlet or 1-1.5 hours using a 240-volt outlet. The gasoline half of their system is a fuel-efficient 2.0-liter, i-VTEC inline 4-cylinder Atkinson cycle engine paired with an electric continuously variable transmission (E-CVT).

They call this a "two-motor hybrid" in which the vehicle can be driven directly by the electric motor, or directly by the gasoline engine, or a blending of both, depending on driving conditions.

The system has a 6 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack (per a (www.youtube.com) video released in November 2010). The electric motor appears, from the same video, to be 120 kilowatts.

In June 2011 a few tidbits were revealed. (www.plugincars.com) http://www.plugincars.com/few-more-details-about-honda-upcoming-plug-hybrid-107280.html Namely that Honda is currently using an Accord as a test platform for the plug-in hybrid, and that in the current test vehicle, the battery pack takes up trunk space.

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