I found this on EV World. It's a paid site so you can't get much data but the gist of the story is that a guy named Mike Dabrowski took a Honda Insight and modified it with a switch that forces the Insight into doing some of the things the Prius does naturally. The resulting car gets nearly 100 MPG in a standard commute. Here's the site, but you can't get much info without joining, for a fee. It's a worthy electric vehicle site, so you might consider joining. I did awhile ago. http://www.evworld.com/index.cfm According to Dabrowski, Honda rushed the insight to market in order to beat Toyota by being first, and because of that rush, the Insight is not as economical as it could have been. His tweak makes it much more economical. And he is making plans for others to make the tweak, and he estimates parts to be less than $500.
Rushed it to market what...6 years ago...You'd think they could'a upgraded it in that time if they felt it would help sales and mileage and such.
I don't think the demand for the Insight was high enough to warrant much more development. Insight was always more of a "proof of concept" for the Civic and the Accord. The 06 Civic and the new Accord Hybrid both have technology that the Insight lacks now.
Maybe, but if someone can install a simple button aftermarket you'd think the 'market' would expand pretty dramatically if folks could expect 100mpg. But then I'm not a marketer or a developer.
You'd think they'd have to add battery capacity, maybe make it possible to plug it in for charging, to get that kind of mileage improvement. Or maybe pushing the button jetisons the body, which probably lightens things up a bit. Hmmmm... -Roger
considering its size and weight, it should get 100 mpg... but i have to believe that i simply dont believe the claims. the insight has been around for as many years as the Prius has. it has never really been updated to my knowledge. i think honda gave up on the vehicle before it even got started. with the increase in the cost of gas, why wouldnt honda institute this "simple" mode to get the additional performance? or is this one guy smart enough to figure out something a team of honda engineers could not?
It is called MIMA (Manual Integrated Motor Assist) and it can also be found here. (Sorry, I'm not discouraging people from joining EV World). No, it is not just a simple button or a switch but rather it consists of a few controller boards and some cable harnesses. As usual, the site sells the benefits of MIMA but no mentioning of how it will affect safety, emission or the battery life. Vincent
Well, I think the Insight is on the other scale of what the NSX is. It's a full body aluminium car. One is balanced for superb cornering, the other is styled for superb aerodynamics.
There is alot of info on MIMA at: http://www.insightcentral.net/ To sum it up in a short answer. MIMA is a system that allows the driver to totally control the hybrid system in the Insight. The logic in the Insight is not as advanced as the Prius and it does some things that are not the most effiecent. MIMA gives the driver a joystick that can turn on and off regen and assist independent of the brake and gas pedel. So you can use just the regen to slow the vehicle without breaks. You can use electric assist without applying more gas with the pedel as would normally happen. I dont know about 100mpg because of that, but the Insight manual is super effiecent while doing lean burn and I hear MIMA allows you to use lean burn much more. MIMA could allow you to abuse the batteries, it allows for higher regen and assist rates then standard. I think it allows you to use 100amps assist vs the normal 50amps. You need to watch battery temp.
