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Well last night I made a big mistake.
I left my keys in the car in the “on” position all night; bad idea. I had to give it a jump start this morning and once it started, the battery meter was completely empty.
For the first few miles there wasn’t any assist and continuous charging took place. After about 6 miles of driving, the battery meter was back to full.
Before it was charged up, I got to feel how the car reacts with no assist. Obviously, there was a lot less pick up, but by using the 5 speed, I could make up for most of the lost power. The acceleration was surprisingly tolerable.
It was nearly impossible to stay in lean burn mode, though, because of the “drag” created by the battery charging. Still, I managed about 45 mpg in a section of my commute that is normally about 60mpg.
It would be interesting to be able to drive without the electric assist motor to see what kind of mileage is attainable. Since the car is so light and aerodynamic, it seems that it should be able to get decent mpg on the gas engine alone.
Has anyone heard of someone driving their Insight for a long length of time without the electric motor? If so, what were the results?
I left my keys in the car in the “on” position all night; bad idea. I had to give it a jump start this morning and once it started, the battery meter was completely empty.
For the first few miles there wasn’t any assist and continuous charging took place. After about 6 miles of driving, the battery meter was back to full.
Before it was charged up, I got to feel how the car reacts with no assist. Obviously, there was a lot less pick up, but by using the 5 speed, I could make up for most of the lost power. The acceleration was surprisingly tolerable.
It was nearly impossible to stay in lean burn mode, though, because of the “drag” created by the battery charging. Still, I managed about 45 mpg in a section of my commute that is normally about 60mpg.
It would be interesting to be able to drive without the electric assist motor to see what kind of mileage is attainable. Since the car is so light and aerodynamic, it seems that it should be able to get decent mpg on the gas engine alone.
Has anyone heard of someone driving their Insight for a long length of time without the electric motor? If so, what were the results?