honda

Among hybrids and the new generation of electric vehicles, one stalwart of the roads comes with emissions much reduced over an equivalent gas-engined car, and its domestically sourced fuel costs almost half that of gasoline. The natural-gas-powered 2012 Honda Civic makes a good argument for its own environmental responsibility.

The Civic Natural Gas checks off some important boxes on the pro side, but also suffers from some pretty serious cons. The low price of a fill-up is not only because of the cost of natural gas, but also from the fact the car's tanks can only hold 8 gasoline … Read more

A kernel of truth lies at the core of most stereotypes. Certainly mothers across the country trawl suburban streets in minivans, picking up kids from school and delivering them to various extracurricular activities, including the art of kicking a ball into a net. But the moms we know encompass a much greater variety, too much for one simple stereotype. So we considered nine other mom stereotypes, matching the cars most appropriate for them. … Read more

Regardless of the actual mileage Heather Peters achieved with her 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid, the automaker did not misstate its fuel economy estimates, ruled a California judge today. Based on that decision, Honda won its appeal to overturn a $9,867 award granted to Peters in small-claims court.

The 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid is advertised to achieve up to 50 mpg in the city. However, due to faulty batteries many drivers argue that the vehicle gets closer to 30 mpg. Peters opted out of a class-action lawsuit against Honda that granted dissatisfied customers up to $200 in cash compensation -- … Read more

Hitting the brakes on the freeway could cause a chain reaction of braking behind you, creating yet another traffic jam during the evening commute. But the traffic condition commonly referred to as stop-and-go traffic could be eased by new driving monitoring technology from Honda.

Honda, in conjunction with the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Tokyo, developed technology that detects potential traffic congestion caused by a vehicle's acceleration and deceleration. The system identifies congestion on the road and coaches the driver with alerts and displays to respond to the road conditions in a way … Read more

Ever since hybrids became popular, with the second generation of the Toyota Prius, the question arose of whether the fuel savings justified a hybrid car's higher price. The extra expense for a hybrid car has been called the hybrid premium.

The extra cost for a hybrid car comes from the additional equipment in the driveline. Along with the gas engine, hybrid cars have an electric propulsion motor, a high-voltage battery pack, and a power control module, this latter component determining how to feed electric power into the drive system.

Now, with many automakers offering some type of hybrid car, … Read more

To a computer company like IBM, plug-in electric vehicles just look like more nodes on the network.

IBM tomorrow is expected to announce a demonstration project with Honda and California utility Pacific Gas & Electric to charge a fleet of Honda Fit EVs without disrupting the grid.

The smart-charging project will also test smartphone and Web-based apps for consumers, giving them an estimate of charge time and location of charging stations.

The power grid as a whole has the capacity to accommodate millions of plug-in vehicles, say experts. But if there's a concentration of electric cars charging at once, … Read more

A story from FuelCellToday shows how Honda has turned the FCX Clarity into a zero emissions electric generator on wheels. The auto manufacturer outfitted the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle with a mobile power supply system, enabling the car to provide 9 kilowatts of electricity continuously for more than seven hours on a full tank of hydrogen at peak generation. At the lower-generation rates needed to power a typical home in Japan, the FCX Clarity could provide electricity for six days.

Nissan and Mitsubishi also have vehicle-to-home power systems, albeit with smaller energy capacities. These systems can be used in emergency … Read more

Honda's new CR-V model keeps many of the values intact that have made it such a popular small SUV, but also does not take advantage of new opportunities to make it an even better car. The engine and transmission are a complete hold-over from the previous generation. Honda is developing more efficient engines with its Earth Dreams initiative, but that won't affect the CR-V until the next update.

The cabin sees a mish-mash of updates. Positive moves by Honda are a new Bluetooth phone system that can receive text messages, Pandora integration with the stereo, and a new … Read more

Could soldiers of the future fight battles in robot bodies controlled from afar? DARPA apparently thinks so, and the agency wants to create an army of surrogate fighting droids.

The U.S. military's research wing apparently is planning surrogates like in the film "Avatar" but with robots instead of giant Na'vi. It has a $7 million program code-named "Avatar" in its 2013 budget, according to Wired.

The robots would reduce risk to human fighters, just as thousands of aerial drones are already keeping pilots out of harm's way. … Read more