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Recharge Wrap-up: Honda Legend Sport Hybrid launching in Japan; driving cross-country on chicken fat

Honda will begin sales in Japan of the Legend Sport Hybrid SH-AWD in January. The Legend is Japan's answer to the Acura RLX Sport Hybrid sold in the US. Up front, the new flagship sedan uses a 3.5-liter V6 with cylinder deactivation and a seven-speed, dual-clutch transmission with integrated electric motor. In the rear, a dual electric motor unit supplies power to the wheels. The three electric motors are also used for generating electricity during deceleration. The car has three drive modes, including EV Drive, Hybrid Drive and Engine Drive. The result is a fuel economy rating of 40 mpg, according to the JC08 cycle. Read more at Green Car Congress or in Honda's press release below. While Jay Leno explains how marketing early electric cars toward women caused them to lose out to internal combustion, the same can't be said about the current era of EVs. Leno says that early EVs, like Leno's beloved Baker, appealed to women because they were quiet, clean, and didn't require cranking to start them. This led to accessorization marketed toward women, causing men - who had more buying power than women at the time - to shy away from EVs. This time around, though, EVs target a broader audience in a different culture from the early 20th century. See Leno explain the early EV culture while driving his Baker Electric in the video below and read more at Hybrid Cars. GKN's two-speed eAxle allows EVs to make the most of both acceleration and top speed. Single-speed transmissions must sacrifice top speed for acceleration, or vice versa. In addition to improving performance at all speeds and increasing range, the GKN's eAxle also performs well in terms of NVH, providing seamless shifts and low gear noise. In order to package the eAxle in the BMW i8, the unit is just 12.8 inches by 22.1 inches by 12.3 inches and weighs 60 pounds. Read more at Green Car Congress. An alternative fuels researcher at Middle Tennessee State University will drive a truck powered by chicken fat biodiesel across the country. Professor Cliff Ricketts is driving a converted 1981 Volkswagen Rabbit pickup from Key West, FL to Seattle, WA to demonstrate the viability of chicken fat as a fuel. Ricketts admits, though, that the truck's exhaust stack is loud and smells like French fries. Read more at Domestic Fuel. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Honda Civic Type R caught naked and frisky

Honda's upcoming Civic Type R is one of our most anticipated models of the next year - and we probably won't even get it in North America. And yet, each time we see it, the five-door just seems so menacing and purposeful. An all-but-undisguised version has just been spotted by our photographers testing on the back roads in Germany. If this signals what to expect, then the project appears to be coming along nicely.
Compared to the concept shown at the Geneva Motor Show, this prototype looks even meaner. Check out those big, blistered front fender extensions, taller wing, deeply sculpted front air dam and 10-spoke gold wheels. The Type R certainly certainly isn't hiding its performance intentions, and it has no reason to. Under the hood, we know it packs Honda's new 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder pumping out 276 horsepower, which is likely connected to a six-speed manual.
Now, if only Honda could find some way to get this machine across The Pond and into the our hot little hands. There has already been an online petition begging the Japanese automaker to find a way, and after recently enjoying an all-too-brief prototype drive, we're ready to sign up.

Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha to make swappable motorcycle batteries

Just as electric cars are becoming ever more common, the alternative propulsion system is starting to make headway in the motorcycle sphere. Companies such as Harley-Davidson and Zero already have electric models on sale, but other established brands are preparing for the electric future. Among them are the four big Japanese bike builders (Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha) who have a plan to improve electric bike adoption, and make their bikes very appealing. The four companies created an organization back in April 2019 for this sort of purpose called the Swappable Battery Consortium for Electric Motorcycles. And the group has now announced that the manufacturers have agreed on the specifications for motorcycle batteries that can be interchanged among each company's motorcycles. So if you have a Suzuki, you can use a Honda battery, or vice versa. This idea presents quite a few interesting possibilities. The manufacturers could sell bikes with or without batteries, since you might already have a battery from your previous bike, or just another one you own, so you wouldn't have to shell out to buy an entirely new battery. If, for whatever reason, you needed a replacement battery, it should be easy to get one, since the same type would support bikes from a variety of manufacturers. The pipe dream of battery swapping stations might even be feasible because of the standardization and support. And having the batteries relatively easy to remove could be good for apartment dwellers, since they might be able to bring a battery inside to charge. The manufacturers haven't said exactly what the specifications are for these interchangeable batteries, nor when they'll be implemented. But we'll be eagerly awaiting more information in the future. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.