Honda Civic Hybrid Earns Outstanding Green
Score in ACEEE's Green Book®
New Top-of-the-Line Civic Offers Superior Environmental Quality
for the Mass Market
For further information, contact:
James Kliesch, 202-429-8873
John DeCicco, 703-599-6517
Washington, D.C. (April 8, 2002): The newly released 2003 Honda
Civic Hybrid offers outstanding environmental performance in a
mass-market package, according to the American Council for an
Energy-Efficient Economy, publisher of ACEEE's Green Book®:
The Environmental Guide to Cars and Trucks. The organization
has added the Civic Hybrid to its early model year 2003 ratings
on GreenerCars.com, the online version of its comprehensive
environmental guide to vehicles.
"By offering a hybrid trimline option on the popular Civic
model, Honda has in effect declared environmentally friendly hybrid
technology fit for mass consumption," stated James Kliesch,
Green Book co-author and Research Associate at ACEEE. The
other hybrid-electric models currently on sale in the U.S. are
Toyota's compact sedan Prius and Honda's two-seater Insight.
"What makes the Civic Hybrid extraordinary," declared
John DeCicco, lead author of the Green Book and Senior
Fellow at Environmental Defense, "is the fact that fuel economy
is increased by over 30% in what is already one of the most efficient
vehicles on the market. And Honda has done so in a top-of-the-line
package that offers greater amenities with no compromise in the
features, comfort, and safety that car buyers expect."
Achieving 46 miles-per-gallon (MPG) in the city and 51 MPG on
the highway with the 5-speed manual transmission, the Civic Hybrid
can travel more than 600 miles on a single tank of gas. The automatic
transmission (CVT) version achieves 48 MPG in the city and 47
on the highway. "This efficiency boost, along with the Civic
Hybrid's Ultra-Low-Emission Vehicle (ULEV) rating, gives it a
Green Score of 46 for both versions, making it one of the top
five greenest vehicles now on the market," stated Kliesch.
ACEEE's rating system accounts for both health-threatening tailpipe
pollution and global warming emissions.
"The Civic Hybrid's Green Score places it squarely in line
with the nationally available version of the Toyota Prius,"
added Kliesch. A greener, Super-Ultra-Low-Emission (SULEV)-certified
version of the Prius is available in California and New England,
while the greenest vehicle of model year 2002 is the SULEV-certified
Honda Insight, with a Green Score of 57. Honda plans to sell a
greener, SULEV-certified version of the Civic Hybrid in California
beginning January 2003.
The Civic Hybrid uses Honda's second-generation Integrated Motor
Assist (IMA) hybrid system, coupling a 1.3-liter i-DSI gasoline
engine to a 13-horsepower, 144-volt electric motor. "Although
one of Honda's goals was to produce a hybrid-electric Civic that
feels like a conventional one, make no mistake - this car is chock-full
of advanced technologies," commented DeCicco. "Take,
for example, the sophistication of the newly designed engine.
In each cylinder are dual spark plugs programmed to fire either
simultaneously or sequentially, in order to maintain efficient
lean-burn operation. Additionally, cylinders can idle when the
vehicle coasts, allowing more energy to be recaptured and fed
back into the battery, further boosting efficiency."
"To summarize, Honda met the goal of putting a hybrid system
in a mass-market vehicle," stated Kliesch. "That's a
significant accomplishment toward furthering the marketability
of this exciting new technology."
The Green Scores announced today for the Civic Hybrid are considered
preliminary, since the car is a 2003 model. Final scores of all
model year 2003 vehicles will be released in the next edition
of ACEEE's Green Book®, but results are not expected
to change significantly.
ACEEE's Green Book® is available online at GreenerCars.com,
along with monthly and annual subscriptions to an interactive
database of model year 2000, 2001, and 2002 vehicles. The print
edition of ACEEE's Green Book®: The Environmental Guide
to Cars and Trucks may be ordered for $8.95 plus $5.00 shipping
and handling direct from ACEEE or GreenerCars.com, or purchased
at major retail booksellers. Bulk sales discounts are also available.
For further information, contact:
ACEEE Publications
1001 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 801
Washington, DC 20036-5525
Phone: 202-429-0063
Fax: 202-429-0193
Email: ace3pubs@ix.netcom.com
Website: www.aceee.org
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient
Economy is an independent, non-profit research group dedicated
to advancing energy efficiency as a means of protecting the environment
and strengthening the economy.
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