The new heat-harnessing hybrid drive from Honda

Honda has unveiled their new heat-harnessing hybrid drive, which, as you may have guessed, is 3.8% more efficient due to the harnessing of heat through a Rankine cycle engine. Exhaust from the car is used to heat water internally, creating steam. The steam is then used to the power an electric generator, which powers the car at low speeds in addition to charging the car battery.

However, Honda has decided to push for more efficiency before using the system in production vehicles. This doesn’t really represent a major advancement in car technology, as the actual system has been around for a while and certainly wasn’t invented by Honda. It is, rather, a major step in the right direction. If all cars used highly efficient engines based around a similar cycle, we’d be spending significantly less money on fuel.

Keep up the good work Honda! It’s great to see a major company making advancements in this area and driving the efficiency standard upwards.