Honda Insight achieves best EPA rating in history

Advanced Battery Technology, Nov 2000

As the first vehicle ever to break the 70-mile per gallon barrier in EPA highway tests, the Honda Insight shows the way to improved automotive efficiency for the 21st century.

The Insight is the first gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle available in the U.S. In dealer's showrooms since June, it was designed to achieve world-class fuel economy and ultra low emissions, using a combination of cutting-edge technologies, including an innovative hybrid powertrain, advanced aerodynamic design, and lightweight aluminum body. It earns the best EPA mileage ratings in history, rated at 61 mpg city, 70mpg highway, offering an extended driving range of 600-700 miles on a single tank of fuel.

Insight's Integrated Motor Assist (IMA(tm)) system combines the world's lightest 1.0-liter, 3-cylinder gasoline automobile engine with an ultra-thin electric motor. The engine can be smaller and more fuel-efficient, because the electric motor supplies low-end torque and power assist when needed. At the same time, the electric motor and battery pack can be smaller and lighter than in a pure electric vehicle, because the motor is not the sole source of propulsion. It also acts as a generator during deceleration and braking to recharge the IMA batteries. The battery pack never needs recharging by an outside power source.

The two-seater Insight also is the first vehicle in the U.S. to use Honda's new G-Force Control technology, which manages impact forces by absorbing and deflecting them away from the passenger cabin, while maintaining a rigid cabin structure to protect the occupants.