City Car Club Hybrids
Submitted by City Car Club on 12 August, 2008 - 20:08
What if you only need a car sometimes
The UK's first car club company
Ben and Mits from City Car Club played a vital role in the People's Eco-Rally: ferrying event organisers Revolve, our film crew, most of our equipment and our judges to Brighton the night before the big day.
City Car Club's brand new Honda Civic Hybrids use a petrol and electric engine. The system incorporates a continuously variable transmission (CVT) which can change steplessly through an infinite number of effective gear ratios between maximum and minimum values. This contrasts with other mechanical transmissions that only allow a few different discrete gear ratios to be selected.
The flexibility of a CVT allows the driving shaft to maintain a constant angular velocity over a range of output velocities. This can provide better fuel economy than other transmissions by enabling the engine to run at its most efficient revolutions per minute (RPM) for a range of vehicle speeds.
The Honda Civic Hybrid also utilises the Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) system. Which uses an electric motor mounted between the engine and transmission to act as a starter motor, engine balancer, and assist traction motor. Again making a fuel efficient car even friendlier to the environment.
What if all cars were zero emissions? In an increasing number of countries, that would just mean being stuck in a traffic-jam would be a more pleasant way to waste your time - but it doesn't have to be that way...
