Cars - Integrated Motor Assist

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	Cars - Integrated Motor Assist

Integrated Motor Assist (commonly abbreviated as IMA) is Honda's hybrid car technology, introduced in 1999 on the Manual 5-speed Insight. It uses an electric motor mounted between the engine and transmission to act as a starter motor, engine balancer, and assist traction motor. In its first generation, IMA could not power the car on electricity alone. Beginning with the 2006 model year Civic Hybrid) are capable of powering the car entirely on electricity at low crusing speeds; with the help of a new pumping loss eliminating valve closing v-tec mode. Even with the new v-tec and more powerful IMA motor and electronics Honda Hybrid still does not offer an electric only mode. Although even with the engine losses the IMA is technically capable of low speed electric opperation. Honda's IMA uses it's high-output motor/generator (MG) to capture electric energy during deceleration via regenerative braking and then uses that energy later to power the vehicle. Honda's hybrids also have a conventional starter as a backup making it the only production hybrid system which can operate with its high voltage electric system disabled, using only its ICE like a traditional vehicle; however since the IMA also acts as the vehicle's alternator, eventually the 12 V accessory battery would require an external charge.

To contrast General Motors and DaimlerChrysler's Advanced Hybrid System 2 (AHS2) and Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD) are similar to each other in that they both combine the power from a single engine and a pair of electric motors via one or more differentials. Such a Power split device (PSD) or Torque split device allows one of their motors to drive in an electric only mode at limited speeds.

Some early non-production Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle conversions have been based on the version of HSD found in the 2004 and 2005 model year Prius. Early Pba conversions by have demonstrated 10 miles of ev-only and 20 miles of double mileage mixed-mode range. A company planning to offer conversions to consumers named will be using Li-ion batteries and have 35 miles of electric range. Both of these systems leave the existing HSD system mostly unchanged and would be similarly simply to apply to other hybrid powertrain flavors. Simply replacing the stock NiMH with a higher capacity battery pack and of course a charger to refill them for about $0.03 per mile from standard household outlets. Though the IMA systems do not have low speed electric only abilities mixed-mode mileage could be greatly enhanced while displacing some of their gas consumption with electricity from external sources. Another plug-in module provider for the Toyota Prius is .

Category:Alternative propulsion Category:Automobiles Category:Engine technology Category:Honda Category:Hybrid powertrain

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