Honda Hybrid Motorcycle

[Lee_0123]

I saw this video of a Honda Hybrid motorcycle. In the video the pictures alternate between an NC750X DCT and an all new bike. I thought it was interesting.

 

[670cc]

Looks nice and interesting, but it’s difficult for me to get excited as Honda tends to get patents and show a lot of concepts that are slow to or never become production vehicles. I’m still waiting for the Neowing to arrive at US dealers.

 

[Normsthename]

Looks nice and interesting, but it’s difficult for me to get excited as Honda tends to get patents and show a lot concepts that are slow to or never become production vehicles. I’m still waiting for the Neowing to arrive at US dealers.

I'm still waiting for the 2005 Honda E4-01 900cc Scooter

Andy

 

[mzflorida]

I saw this video of a Honda Hybrid motorcycle. In the video the pictures alternate between an NC750X DCT and an all new bike. I thought it was interesting.

Very cool! If I had to bet, large scale adoption of hybrid technologies is far more likely to get meaningful market share across all vehicle categories than are EVs for the near term. We need a transitional solution while the shortcomings of EVs, their negative impacts to the environment especially during production and disposal, and infrastructure requirements are settled and developed. That would be a much more reasonable approach and would require far fewer of our tax dollars to subsidize EV vehicle production, ownership, infrastructure development.

 

[670cc]

Very cool! If I had to bet, large scale adoption of hybrid technologies is far more likely to get meaningful market share across all vehicle categories than are EVs for the near term. We need a transitional solution while the shortcomings of EVs, their negative impacts to the environment especially during production and disposal, and infrastructure requirements are settled and developed. That would be a much more reasonable approach and would require far fewer of our tax dollars to subsidize EV vehicle production, ownership, infrastructure development.

Some time ago, I thought a plug-in hybrid was THE answer for the near term. However, having experienced pure EVs, and realizing one of the big pluses is the almost total lack of required maintenance, I now have little desire to get a PHEV that combines an electric system with all the headaches of an ICE into one vehicle. If a person or couple/family is limited to owning one vehicle, PHEV makes some sense, but for me I’d rather have a battery electric vehicle (BEV) for nearly all my daily needs, and keep an old legacy ICEV (or two) around for rare long trips, hauling, and towing. My ICEV’s were acquired very cheaply and yet have many miles remaining in their lives.

The only required maintenance on my EV car for the first 5 years is the cabin air filter, if needed, and whatever the tires need. The brakes will likely last the life of the car because with one pedal driving, I never touch the brake pedal. Regeneration does all the braking. Likewise the electric motorcycle required maintenance is quite minimal.

My daughter has a regular hybrid car, but gets little benefit from the hybrid technology because nearly all her miles are long distance highway. It’s then basically just a gasoline engine car. My son has a PHEV, but the vehicle is large and inefficient, and the battery small, so the electric range is short. If he uses electric too much, the vehicle will force him to use gasoline at some intervals because I guess it wants to use up old gas and exercise the engine.

But for the public, I see people that years ago would never buy a hybrid, I now hear talking like hybrid is the way to go. Likewise some may eventually come around to EVs but their adoption will be very slow.

Back on topic, in the motorcycle world, hybrid tech seems to be employed simply to get extra strong performance when needed or wanted, while using the same size engine or possibly using a smaller engine. Selling hybrid to motorcyclists solely on the promise of better efficiency would never fly in the US market.

 

[mzflorida]

Some time ago, I thought a plug-in hybrid was THE answer for the near term. However, having experienced pure EVs, and realizing one of the big pluses is the almost total lack of required maintenance, I now have little desire to get a PHEV that combines an electric system with all the headaches of an ICE into one vehicle. If a person or couple/family is limited to owning one vehicle, PHEV makes some sense, but for me I’d rather have a battery electric vehicle (BEV) for nearly all my daily needs, and keep an old legacy ICEV (or two) around for rare long trips, hauling, and towing. My ICEV’s were acquired very cheaply and yet have many miles remaining in their lives.

The only required maintenance on my EV car for the first 5 years is the cabin air filter, if needed, and whatever the tires need. The brakes will likely last the life of the car because with one pedal driving, I never touch the brake pedal. Regeneration does all the braking. Likewise the electric motorcycle required maintenance is quite minimal.

My daughter has a regular hybrid car, but gets little benefit from the hybrid technology because nearly all her miles are long distance highway. It’s then basically just a gasoline engine car. My son has a PHEV, but the vehicle is large and inefficient, a d the battery small, so the electric range is short. If he uses electric too much, the vehicle will force him to use gasoline at some intervals because I guess it wants to use up old gas and exercise the engine.

But for the public, I see people that years ago would never buy a hybrid, I now hear talking like hybrid is the way to go. Likewise some may eventually come around to EVs but their adoption will be very slow.

Back on topic, in the motorcycle world, hybrid tech seems to be employed simply to get extra strong performance when needed while using the same size engine or possibly using a smaller engine. Selling hybrid to motorcyclists solely on the promise of better efficiency would never fly in the US market.

I see your points about hybrids, but they are either point in time or retrospective observations. The next generation hybrids are expected to deliver much greater efficiencies and all electric range than those your daughter has experienced. Toyota, as just one example, is reporting that their next gen hybrid will have ~120 mile all electric range, in addition to the range provided by the ICE powerplant.

 

[lootzyan]

..My daughter has a regular hybrid car, but gets little benefit from the hybrid technology because nearly all her miles are long distance highway. It’s then basically just a gasoline engine car...

In my case it's the other way around. I have a new HEV (not PHEV) and long-distance driving (more than 50 miles) is the most economical driving, even above 46 MPG. Of course, this requires frequent use of smart technology such as ACC (adaptive cruise control). Even in crazy traffic, like on some highways, where you're almost forced to drive at 75-95 mph on many stretches of road, efficiency can be above 43 MPG. City driving is the least efficient. And now, in the cold season (or very hot summer) the efficiency drops to about 34-36 MPG.
Since there is no traditional transmission, direct ICE drive to the wheels can occur once the vehicle reaches a speed of 43 mph. If you drive the vehicle yourself above, for example, 45 mph, speed changes are relatively frequent, then the system often switches between hybrid driving and direct engine driving. If switched to a set speed and ACC, the system may switch to EV mode more often, depending on driving conditions (e.g. without significant acceleration). And then the efficiency increases.
Here in the US PHEV popularity continues to fluctuate. More expensive vehicles are more likely to be PHEVs. For cheaper cars, many companies are giving up the PHEV version. I researched the differences between the new Prius Prime (PHEV) and the "normal" Prius. And I came to the conclusion that it is unprofitable to spend a relatively large amount of money on the plug-in version just to have about 43 miles of driving in EV mode. And this is provided that you have appropriate conditions for relatively quick HV battery charging in your garage.