Sooner, rather than later, the battery in our 2000 Honda Insight failed and here's what happen. Why is still an unknown.
<
Last night, my Honda Insight died.
Ironically, it happened while making an emergency run to the local pharmacy to fill a prescription for my 78-year-old father who was in excruciating pain. I was forced to leave the 2000 model year gasoline-electric hybrid just a few hundred yards short of its goal .
Like most "medical" crisis, this story really begins last Summer when I noticed that the battery pack, which supplies electric assist to the tiny 3-cylinder engine, would deplete too rapidly, though it would gradually recover as I drove the car. Through the Fall and into Winter -- at least according to the instrument display -- there was less and less energy available from the pack, which seldom reached over half the "bars" used to indicate the nickel metal hydride battery pack's state of charge. However, fuel economy didn't appear to suffer unduly, so I dismissed it, though in the back of my mind I began wondering about the pack's "health".
Then in late January, on the way home from a business meeting here in Omaha, the "Check Engine" and "IMA" indicator lights came on. IMA stands for "Integrated Motor Assist"; that's the hybrid electric drive and the light indicated there was a problem. The battery state-of-charge had sunk to just two "bars" and wasn't recovering. I knew I had a problem, which was confirmed early the next week at O'Daniel Honda, where I service the car. The battery pack would need to be replaced, Brian, the service writer told me, along with a computer control module. The dealership would immediately put in an order for both.
Could I drive the car, I asked?
Brian reassured me that it would be okay, though it would take a couple weeks to get the replacement pack; and for more than a month and a half, he was right.
I continued to drive the car around town. I even drove it on one occasion more than two hundred miles out to York, Nebraska and back, getting a surprising 60.6 mpg. I attribute this to the car's light weight and its superior aerodynamics, because it wasn't getting any help from the electric drive.
But signs of trouble started cropping up. On a couple of occasions, the car acted as if it wouldn't start. I'd turn the key, all the instrument panel lights would come one as usually, but nothing happened. The car wouldn't start. It would take three or four times and finally it would run. Most of the time though I'd climb in, turn the key and away we'd go with the amber "Check Engine" and "IMA" warning lights blazing.
Then last week, things took a more ominous turn. While shopping for a new, more energy efficient washer and dryer with my wife, the "Battery" warning light came on briefly. Okay, that's to be expected, I concluded. We got home okay, some $1,500 dollars poorer but with an incredibly efficient Energy Star washer and its matching dryer on order from Sears.
The next time I drove the car, the "Battery" light didn't come on, but I did put in a call to Brian at O'Daniel. He'd check with Honda to see when the replacement battery was due to arrive -- they already had the control module by now. He called back to report that that it looked like it could still be a couple weeks and he offered me a loaner car. I thanked him and passed on the offer. That was a big mistake.
I emailed my friend, Stephen Ellis at Honda's headquarters in Torrance to let him know that I was having trouble with getting the car repaired, which has just over 39,000 miles on it. He wrote back to say he'd look into it and wanted to know what was wrong. I briefly explained the symptoms and fired off the email. That particular "ball" is still in his court.
This past Thursday, I drove the car to the bank and post office, a trip of three, maybe four miles total. The "Battery" light came on again, but the car continued to run fine, though I was starting to get nervous. I pulled out the owner's manual. This light indicated that the battery wasn't being recharged. My anxiety level moved up another notch.
Amazingly, even with a crippled battery pack, I was still getting 53 mpg running around town, though a couple weeks earlier it had "sunk" to as low as 43 mpg. Now that's a mileage number a lot of people would die for, but most Insight drivers find it egregiously inefficient.
Then last night, about 9 PM, my mother called. In a plaintive voice, she explained that my father was experiencing a great deal of pain and asked if I'd pick up a prescription for him. I threw on my jacket, shoved my wallet in my back jean pocket and grabbed the Insight keys off my desk The car started fine, but there was that red "Battery" light glowering at me. I turned the car off and restarted it, but the light continued to glow. I backed out of the garage and drove down the street, taking only a minute or so to arrive at my parents home a few blocks away.
Dad was clearly in pain and I had a good ten to twelve minutes to reach the pharmacy before it closed. I put the prescription in jacket and headed out the door. If the medication didn't work, we'd have to take him to the emergency room to re-insert the catheter that had been removed that morning.
Again the car started, but by the time I'd gone just a few blocks, I knew I was in trouble. As I crossed the intersection near the Home Depot., my instrument panel lights went off and the engine started losing power. Within sight of my destination, the local Super Target, the car refused to run. Like a dying horse in the desert, it simply collapsed into a power-starved haze. Its final gasp came in the form of a warning chime from somewhere in the system. I got out and pushed the car into a convenient parking slot near a row of garden sheds.
I called my wife from the Home Depot and ten minutes later she arrived in our trusty 1995 Accord. But by then, the pharmacy had closed, so we had to drive to the next town where there was a 24-hour pharmacy.
To be honest, I was fuming, already composing this blog in my mind. I had put off reporting on this problem for weeks, expecting the refurbished battery to arrive, allowing me to chronicle the replacement procedure without focusing too negatively on the delay. But with my father suffering, my reservations quickly vanished. This was simply unacceptable.
To be fair, Brian at O'Daniel Honda had offered me the use of a rental car the week before and had I taken him up on the offer -- at Honda's expense -- I would never had had this situation arise.
After what seemed like an interminable wait at the pharmacy -- though it couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 minutes, we paid for the medication and headed back to my parent's home. An hour and a half later, Dad decided that the medicine wasn't having the desired effect and we bundled him into his Kia and headed off to the hospital emergency room. It was after midnight before we returned with our much relieved patient.
This morning, I made three calls: the first to my father -- he's doing fine -- then one to Brian at O'Daniel and finally to Joe, our local tow operator. The ailing Insight now sits on the dealer lot and 2005 Civic loaner sits in my driveway. When I'll get the Insight back is anyone's guess. The battery pack has to come from Japan and presumably it's on its way, though no one at Honda seems to know exactly when it will arrive.
Has anyone else with a gasoline-electric hybrid experienced a similar problem? I don't know other than a comment Brian made back in January about several others that were slated to get a replacement battery ahead of me.
Is this a common problem? I can't say. I certainly hope not. I've invested a lot myself into electric-drive technology. Hundreds of thousands of consumers around the world have forked over a not insignificant portion of their hard-earned incomes for it, while carmakers and their suppliers are investing hundreds of millions, if not billions into it. As a planet, we have no choice but to make this work and learn from our failures.
Do I have second thoughts about buying a hybrid? No. I knew it was the right thing to do when I bought it, but I also realize that this is technology that is still in its infancy. It's part of the risk of being an early adopter, though I am grateful that this problem is still covered under Honda's warranty of eight years or 80,000 miles on the hybrid drive train.
What happens if the problem repeats itself five years from now? We'll cross that bridge when we get there.
Still, as I rode with Joe north up 84th Street towards O'Daniel Honda with my little gray Insight forlornly in tow behind us, I imagined what the hundreds of people we passed or that passed us were thinking and saying.
"Isn't that one of those hybrids? Wonder why it's being towed. I'll bet it's because of the battery".
POSTSCRIPT
I am informed by a confidential source that development of an innovative mechanical energy storage system in development outside the U.S. is nearing completion. According to this source, it will be more efficient than either electrochemical battery or hydraulic hybrid systems, was well as long-lived. Supposedly the team working on the project has even looked at a retrofittable option for the Insight, which could be available as early as 2009. While the informant cautioned me, "don't hold my breath", he also suggested I not sell the Insight just yet.