Good intentions can be seen everywhere on the road to electrification of transport, but some customers are treated a bit neglectfully: there are those who want to drive an electrically powered car but have no charging option, and those who would like to have the feeling even in an electric car sitting in a conventional vehicle. For the former, there are some hybrids that do without cables because they generate their own electricity, and the Honda Civic from the compact car class fulfills the second wish.
The model, which has been built for half a century, is now in its eleventh generation with a concept that Honda calls a self-loading hybrid, no other drive is offered. It has a 184 hp electric motor that drives the front wheels and draws its power from a battery with a capacity of just 1.05 kWh, making it small and light. So that the fun doesn’t end after a few meters, it is charged by a second electric motor that has no drive function. Honda is silent about its performance, but it must be considerable, otherwise you wouldn’t need a 143 hp petrol engine with two liters displacement, which supplies it with power as a kind of oversized range extender and relieves the small battery because of the high charge – and discharge currents must be able to cope.