Driven: 2022 Honda Civic e:HEV Is The Hypermiler’s Hot Hatch | Carscoops Series-Series/Parallel Hybrid drives this Honda Civic as a 2.0L engine provides juice to the battery and motors for fixed gear simplicity. The two motors put out 181 hp (135 kW) to mainly drive the car and the 2.0L Atkinson-cycle engine makes 141 hp to basically recharge the 1 kWh battery. So the engine basically runs all the time like a normal Toyota e-CVT hybrid. When cruising the engine can drive the wheels when the battery is low and has fake gear changes. Efficiency is about 57 - 60 MPG Combined WLTP (imperial gallon; about 48 - 50 MPG US). Hits 62 mp/h (100 km/h) in 7.8 - 8.1 seconds. Comes in Elegance, Sport, and Advanced trims British reviewer wasn't too crazy about the amount of noise and ride. But he was on 235/40ZR18 tires.
Oh dear, Honda used self-charging hybrid in New Zealand. New Honda™ e:HEV: Self-charging Hybrid | Honda e:Technology | Honda NZ Sounds like e:HEV is the next generation of their two motor power-split system. What Does 'e:HEV' by Honda Mean?
Found a Honda explanation of the e:HEV drive although its from the Jazz which uses a 1.5L Atkinson. The engineer (Ko Yamamoto) explains it using the WLTP cycles: Urban, Extra Urban and Motorway, but he breaks up Motorway into two different speed ranges. Has three modes, EV Drive, Hybrid Drive, and Engine Drive. They try and keep the engine in the "sweet spot" of efficiency between 1200 and 2800 rpm. So even though the engine drive mode is on 73% of the time between 80 and 120 km/h (50 mp/h and 75 mp/h) it goes to 100% hybrid drive mode over 120 km/h. EV drive mode is 86% of the time between 0 and 40 km/h (25 mp/h) (Urban cycle) and slides to 54% at 40 to 80 km/h (25 to 50 mp/h) (Extra Urban cycle). The Motorway division is exactly opposite from the WeberAuto explanation of the Honda Hybrid E-Drive, where engine drive is only enabled after 62 mp/h (100 km/h). Weber breakdown of Honda E-Drive: Interesting, so you could theoretically apply that to the Prius or RAV4 Primes efficiency of Charge Mode. Try and keep the RPMs in the same range, 1200 to 2800 rpms. Pretty sure I couldn't keep RPMs anywhere near 1200 when I enabled it. The engine almost always kicked up to about 2000 rpms.
That's how I remember the i-MMD(power-split) operation being described. EV operation at low speeds; engine coming on to charge the pack back up. Then it went into more of a direct series hybrid mode as speed increased, until it clutched the engine to the wheels at highway speeds. Technical aspect aside, I found the Jazz using it more interesting. That originally have a full parallel w/ DCT system. Honda said it was better cost for smaller car applications. Guessing that arithmetic changed in the past few years. Charge mode in the PP likely favors charging speed. The battery is about 8 times the capacity of the Honda hybrid. You don't want to charge that at Level 2 rates on a drive.
