Honda City Hybrid To Get Same Tech As Jazz Hybrid Which Delivers Over 30kmpl!

A smart petrol-hybrid that can deliver a fuel efficiency of over 22kmpl

• New fourth-gen Jazz debuts Honda’s new hybrid powertrain for compact vehicles.

• Dubbed as e:HEV, the system uses two electric motors connected to a 1.5-litre petrol engine.

• It has a combined output of 109PS and 253Nm with a fixed gear transmission.

• The hybrid system can switch between EV (pure electric), hybrid and engine drive modes.

• Honda’s new hybrid system will be offered in the fifth-gen City as well.

• The Honda City hybrid variant could be introduced in India in 2021.

The latest-generation of the Honda Jazz was globally unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show in late 2019. It marks the debut of Honda’s new two motor hybrid system for compact cars and its technical details have now been revealed. This is the same hybrid system that can be expected to feature in the fifth-gen City.

The new e:HEV system developed for the fourth-gen Jazz consists of two electric motors connected to the 1.5-litre i-VTEC petrol engine, a lithium-ion battery pack and a fixed-gear automatic transmission. This powertrain has a combined output of 109PS of power and 253Nm of torque. In terms of fuel efficiency, Honda says the new Jazz’s e:HEV delivers 22.23kmpl under European WLTP testing cycle which is more demanding than India’s ARAI test cycle. However, on the Japanese testing cycle, the hybrid Jazz can deliver upto 38.6kmpl.

Honda’s newly developed hybrid powertrain switches between three drive modes - pure EV, hybrid and petrol. The e:HEV transitions between pure-EV and hybrid modes for city driving but on European highway speeds, it will switch to engine mode which will be supplemented by the electric motors for on-demand acceleration. In terms of performance, the Jazz Hybrid claims a 0-100kmph time of 9.4 seconds and a top-speed of 174kmph.

In hybrid mode, the system can divert excess power from the petrol engine to recharge the battery via the generator motor. When braking, the powertrain engages EV mode to harvest energy using regenerative braking to recharge the battery. 

The fifth-gen Honda City compact sedan will feature the same hybrid powertrain in the near future. The Japanese carmaker had stated its intentions to introduce its first mass-market hybrid to India in 2021 which could likely be the hybrid variant of the City. Meanwhile, Japanese rival Suzuki is also looking to add a similar hybrid to the Maruti portfolio. Maruti also showcased Swift Hybrid featuring a similar powertrain at the Auto Expo 2020 that claimed a  mileage of 32kmpl on the Japanese test cycle, around 6kmpl fewer than the Jazz’s claimed efficiency.

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