What's the news?
The launch date for Honda's potentially ground-breaking hybrid CR-V is drawing closer, and so the Japanese car maker is letting us in on one or two more secrets about the car's performance. No official performance figures yet, but we do now know that the combination of the 2.0-litre Atkinson Cycle engine and the hybrid battery and electric motor will produce 184hp, and torque of 315Nm. Honda calls it Intelligent Multi-Mode Drive (iMMD).
Atkinson Cycle is a specific fuel-saving combustion cycle, which leaves the intake valves open a fraction of a second longer than normal, resulting in an effectively shorter engine stroke, and therefore fuel savings. The fact that Atkinson Cycle isn't as good at producing power isn't a problem here, as the holes in the power delivery are covered up by the electric motor and battery.
That battery is a lithium-ion one, which puts Honda a tech step ahead of rival Toyota's nickel battery hybrid setup. The hybrid CR-V also lacks a gearbox. Instead, the front wheels are driven directly by the electric motor, and a single reduction gear links that to the engine, so there's no need for actual gears, nor a CVT. Honda claims that this setup makes for a smoother transmission of power.
The system has three modes; EV Drive in which the wheels are driven only by the motor and battery; Hybrid Drive in which the engine and motor work together; and Engine Drive, in which the electric motor is turned directly by the petrol engine, via a lock-up clutch mechanism.
Honda claims that when driving the CR-V hybrid, you'll be running on electric power for as much as half your driving time, when in town, and up to a third of the time, when on faster roads. You'll be able to monitor the flow of power through the in-car displays.