Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Not Precisely an EV, but ...

Not precisely an EV, but the first commercially available hybrid vehicle in the US. This is the car that started me down the EV road, and saved my wife's life in 2009. 



I traded my beloved Miata on a Honda Insight very similar to this one in the early 2000's and enjoyed getting over 50 mpg without even trying. It's rather a different approach from that taken by Toyota with the Prius: a 1 litre 3 cylinder 67hp gas motor drives the car with a 13hp  electric "assist" motor that provides up to 36 lb-ft of torque on demand. The electric motor is powered by a 144 volt NiMH IMA (Integrated Motor Assist - Honda's name for its hybrid technology) battery pack that is recharged through regenerative braking. The key to its high mpg rating is its tiny size, very low 0.25 drag coefficient, and lightweight aluminum structure and body.


That aluminum structure might seem a bit fragile, but it's quite strong and here's where the wife comes in: she survived a head-on collision with a spinning SUV with her injuries mostly caused by the air bag. The crush zone crushed as designed with the passenger compartment unscathed. Even the doors and hatch opened and closed as if nothing had happened. The insurance company totaled the car, and I have missed it ever since.

So why buy a twenty year old replacement now? Our 2016 Nissan Leaf is nearing the end of its lease term and Beth and I have become adherents of Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover" principals which rule out leasing or financing depreciating assets like cars. While I want my Tesla Model 3 in the worst way I don't have a savings account that will let me pay cash for one even though the $35,000 entry model is now available. By the time I have cash available, low mileage used Model 3's should be on the market with their initial depreciation behind them. Can't wait!


But for now, this 2000 Honda Insight turned up on Craigslist over the weekend with only 57,400 miles on it. A quick test drive told me everything was working on this car, pretty much like a younger low mileage example, and it drove exactly as I remembered my original. The IMA battery had been replaced in 2015 and seemed to be working properly. It was a non-smoking car and while pretty dirty, it cleaned up nicely. Except ...


It was a fleet vehicle for the City of Austin Parks and Recreation department and says so right on the doors. Someone tried to remove the graphics and gave up before the job was done. I expect a little patina on a car that has spent its twenty years exposed to the Texas sun, but I need to get rid of the civic advertising. WD40? Goo Gone? Compound and a buffer? Eraser wheel? Google presents so many choices ... just don't want to spring for a respray.

The net of all this is that the Insight is a car Beth is comfortable driving (she wouldn't consider the Porsche or the MG) for those days when her Prius is getting serviced or I need it to transport the grandchildren. It was a low cash outlay for a bridge from our Leaf into the Model 3 of my dreams.


Footnote:

While my new Insight is a low mile, low cost find, apparently there is something of a cult following for these cars among hypermilers and other eccentrics which has led to some outrageous prices and bidding wars on these things. The seller raised the price on mine after we arranged the test drive. He honored the original price he had posted since I was local with cash in hand. He decided to raise the price after he got a call from a guy in Indianapolis who wanted to fly down and drive home and said he'd pay up to $5000 if he'd hold the car for him. Happily no deal on that one.

Will I be converting the Insight to a full EV someday? Maybe. It's been done, here's a beautiful conversion by Mark Bishop I saw at EVCCON (free registration required). I see examples of Insights with over 200,000 miles on them still going strong, so it may be a while.

Stay tuned ...

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