Honda City e:HEV - Hybrid

Honda City e:HEV


2022 iteration of Honda City has been unvalued in India in our courtiers capital. No, Honda India has not launched an EV variant of its City nor the diesel version, in fact, it’s a Hybrid vehicle which is a segment-first on the Indian roads and it’s called Honda City e:HEV. The new hybrid variant has been placed above the top of the line ZX variant which will be the only offering.

Design

On the outside, the car looks the same as the pure petrol motor model which was launched last year while the current version has a few twigs here and there. If you look carefully the Honda bagging on the front and the back has a tinch of Blue which symbolises the hybrid note of the car. The bold chrome finished stirp is still present on the front but the grill underneath it is of mesh design compared to the horizontal grill, the car also carries over the LED headlamps and LED fog lamps. On the side car gets 16inch two-tone alloy wheels and ORVMs with LED turn indicators. The rear gets a set of LED tail lamps integrated with the boot led and carbon fibre finished body skirt.
Interior

The interiors of the car are similar to the petrol version except for the instrument cluster which shows all the e:HEV power flow, Honda sensing support and various other alerts & warnings.





Engine

The real change in the 2022 Honda City is under the hood. It has a 1.5 litre four-cylinder Atkinson Cycle Petrol engine with two electric motors, one used for generation and the other for traction. The engine alone makes the power of 98HP@ 5600-6400rpm and 127Nm@4500-5000rpm while the generator motor produces 95hp and the traction motor makes 109hp. The overall combined output of the motors and engine stands at 126HP and torque of 253Nm@3000rpm. The car gets an eCVT gearbox. There are three driving modes in the car EV Drive Mode, Hybrid Drive Mode, and Engine Drive Mode but you can't find a drive mode selector switch in the car as they are selected automatically by the car's PCU(Power Control Unit) depending on the driving conditions whether it be city traffic or a highway cruise. The Hybrid City has a battery pack of 0.784 kWh 173V Lithium-ion.

When you start the car, the car turns sets-off in EV mode where the wheels are powered by a battery, slow gradually when speed increases for low-speed cruising the car using a combination of EV mode & Hybrid mode, and for powerful acceleration Hybrid mode comes into the picture where the generator motor and traction motor drives the wheels. On the highway cursing speed, the power unit engages the clutch and the wheels get power directly from the Petrol engine at tipple digit speeds if more power is required the traction motor assists as well in delivering the required amount of output. The car is also equipped with 3 levels of regenerative braking, gearbox has a B mode i.e. Engine breaking mode where you can select the level on regenerative breaking especially useful when you are driving on a downhill starch.

Honda Sensing

The car is also equipped with ADAS features which the Japanese call Honda Sensing Mitigation Collusion, which uses a wide-angle camera instead of a radar.
Collision Mitigation Breaking System (CMBS)

The car warns the drivers where the risk of collision is imminent by means of alerts and breaking the car automatically.
Road Departure Mitigation System (RMD)

Alerts the driver with warnings and steers the vehicle back when it deviates from the lane.
Lane Keep Assist System (LKAS)

Help the driver to keep the car in the middle of the lane while cruising along the highway.
Adaptive Cruise Control

Assists acceleration and braking operation when cruising on highways while maintaining a safe distance from the preceding car.
Auto High-Beam

Switches between high beam and low beam automatically at night to support good visibility for the driver as well as preceding or oncoming car.
Features
1. Honda Connect (Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, Weblink)


2. 20.3 cm (8") Advanced Touchscreen Display Audio
3. 17.7 cm (7 in) High Definition Full Colour TFT Meter4. LED Headlamps with DRL’s

5. 6 Airbags

6. Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (Deflation Warning System)
7. Engine One-Push Start/Stop Button
8. Electric Parking Brake (EPB)

9. Hill Start Assist (HSA) & Emergency Stop Signal (ESS)

Colours
Radiant Red Metallic

Platinum White Pearl
Meteoroid Grey Metallic

Lunar Silver Metallic


Golden Brown Metallic

Competition
None of the rivel models offer a hybrid power train.
Volkswagen Virtus

Engine: 1.0L 3-Cylinder & 1.5L 4-Cylinder Petrol
Transmission:6 Speed Manual, 6 & 7speed Automatic (CVT & DSG)
Price: ₹11.50 lakh (Expected)

Skoda Slavia

Engine: 1.0L 3-Cylinder & 1.5L 4-Cylinder Petrol
Transmission:6 Speed Manual, 6 & 7speed Automatic (CVT & DSG)
Price: ₹10.69 lakh - ₹17.79 lakh

Hyundai Verna

Engine: 1.0L, 1.5L Petrol & 1.05L Diesel
Transmission: Manual, Automatic (CVT), Automatic (Torque Converter) & Automatic (Dual Clutch)
Price: ₹9.28 lakh - ₹15.32 lakh

Maruti Suzuki Ciaz

Engine: 1.5L Petrol-electric Hybrid
Transmission: Manual & Automatic (Torque Converter)
Price: ₹8.72 lakh- ₹11.71 lakh

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With a mileage claim of 26.5Km/L combined (Petrol & Electric) and with pricing of ₹19.49 lakh (ex-showroom) it's worth a watch how many Hybrid enthusiastic buyers will walk into the showroom and own this piece of technology.