This model may be all-new, but if you’ve kept up with Honda’s recent launches, the mechanical package will sound very familiar. It’s mostly the same e:HEV-badged hybrid system as in the ZR-V and Civic, where the 2.0-litre Atkinson-cycle petrol engine mainly drives a generator to provide energy for an electric motor to drive the wheels, but with a lock-up clutch for direct drive at higher speeds.
There are a few key differences, though. A second, lower ratio now lets the ICE help out at lower speeds as well, which is particularly useful when you’re towing; and there’s four-wheel drive on the regular hybrid, through a normal clutch-based system.
What’s more, there’s also a plug-in hybrid version of the CR-V, named e:PHEV. It has a 17.7kWh battery, giving it an official electric-only range of 50 miles, meaning company car drivers will pay only 8% benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax. And choosing the e:PHEV has a number of other consequences, not all of them entirely obvious.
Instead of losing boot space to the battery, it actually gains 72 litres, for a total of 635. That’s because the battery is under the cabin floor, rather than under the boot, as in the e:HEV (due to differences in how they’re cooled). Having the battery there also precludes a propshaft, so the PHEV is exclusively front-wheel drive.
It doesn’t gain any extra power, since it uses the same motor, but because the battery is larger, there’s enough juice for the motor to run at peak power for longer, so Honda is confident that you should be able to tow 1500kg with the e:PHEV, instead of just 750kg with the e:HEV.
It even gets a dedicated towing mode that uses sat-nav data to know when to save battery power or even recharge it from the engine so that there’s always enough in reserve for uphill or motorway sections.