Thanks to Eric Smith and an Arduino microcontroller the world's only diesel powered Honda Insight is now the world's only diesel hybrid Honda Insight. The hybrid side of the vehicle is now fully functional. Auto stop, regenerative braking, and electric assist all function the same as they did in the Insight before we swapped engines.
The electric assist makes the car a much better driving vehicle especially in NW Washington where there are substantial hills. The gear ratios of the Insight are pretty long and the diesel was tuned to keep the turbo out of the equation until approximately 2000 RPM so climbing hills was tough without the electric assist. With the assist it's like having the turbo available right off idle without sacrificing fuel economy.
The jury is still out on how much of an improvement the hybrid side of the vehicle makes to fuel mileage. This week (week of 14SEP09) I'm heading down to The World of Speed (Bonneville) to see what the car will do flat out. Over the 900 mile transit there will be ample opportunity to gather some data. Keep an eye out for the results as well as another video or two featuring the Insight 1G (1 gallon/100 miles).
Thanks to Eric Smith and an Arduino microcontroller the world's only diesel powered Honda Insight is now the world's only diesel hybrid Honda Insight. The hybrid side of the vehicle is now fully functional. Auto stop, regenerative braking, and electric assist all function the same as they did in the Insight before we swapped engines.
The electric assist makes the car a much better driving vehicle especially in NW Washington where there are substantial hills. The gear ratios of the Insight are pretty long and the diesel was tuned to keep the turbo out of the equation until approximately 2000 RPM so climbing hills was tough without the electric assist. With the assist it's like having the turbo available right off idle without sacrificing fuel economy.
The jury is still out on how much of an improvement the hybrid side of the vehicle makes to fuel mileage. This week (week of 14SEP09) I'm heading down to The World of Speed (Bonneville) to see what the car will do flat out. Over the 900 mile transit there will be ample opportunity to gather some data. Keep an eye out for the results as well as another video or two featuring the Insight 1G (1 gallon/100 miles).
Best wishes,
Jake
Going through Pocatello, ID by any chance? I would love to see what you have done with that car.
Sick! I'm kinda confused about the first sentance though. Is this the first diesel hybrid, period? First diesel Honda? First diesel hybrid Honda?
It is the first (and only AFAIK) diesel insight; the hybrid (IMA) was not yet working. It apparently now is, so it is the first (and again, probably only ) Honda diesel hybrid, the insight having both a diesel engine and now working IMA, making it a Honda insight diesel hybrid!
Regards,
Jerry
Sorry I didn't see your message sooner. Maybe we'll have another opportunity to meet up at some point. For those that are interested I've posted another YouTube video. This one shows the functionality of the hybrid portion of the car: YouTube - Insight 1G Gets Full Hybrid Functionality .
Next up is tweaking the system to optimize the hybrid side for the diesel engine. It works well now but I think the blending of the assist could be improved a bit.
The tires I installed for Bonneville (Kuhmo 175/70R14) have a much higher rolling resistance than the stock Bridgestones. Mileage came out around 85 mpg. I'll have to go back to the stock configuration to see what the hybrid assist is really giving me. At 92 mpg without hybrid functionality I hope to see at least a few more mpg's with hybrid functionality.
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