It was brought up on another thread that there is a lot of conflicting info when it comes to how the gas engine directly drives the wheels (when it's not just driving a generator.) Does anyone have any official Honda literature explaining this? I've heard CVT, I've heard planetary gearset (with a fixed gear-ratio), I've heard a direct clutch, heck it might even be through a monkey on a treadmill... I'm hoping we can get an 'official' answer from Honda on this one. Edit: Added a poll for the fun of it to see where that leads us as well...
I believe some of the confusion is that people are not noticing that the Honda material I saw says trany is CVTe not CVT. I think this means that some are correct in saying it’s a planetary gear and not the CVT that’s found in other Hondas. Somebody with more info please chime in.
I believe the drive system is an updated version of the Accord Hybrid, here is an explanation of the Accord Hybrid Drive https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1108160_explaining-how-honda-accord-hybrid-system-works-video Also these honda specs give a single gear ratio for the drivetrain http://news.honda.com/newsandviews/article.aspx?id=10083-en The 2017 Accord Hybrid has the same gear ratio http://owners.honda.com/vehicles/information/2017/Accord%20Hybrid/specs#mid^CR6F3HEW
You probably want to look at this post by ab13 about a month ago: https://insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/honda-clarity-power-split.418/#post-3740 Links to a paper/presentation by Honda engineers :Efficiency Enhancement of a New Two-Motor Hybrid System. Its talking about the Accord Hybrid engine but I believe it is the engine used in the Clarity also.
