Grand Filano Hybrid Questions

[gbob]

Does anyone have a Yamaha Grand Filano Hybrid?  I am struggling a bit to understand what the benefit of the electric motor is.  As near as I can tell from the brochure, the motor either provides all the power or assists in providing power when accelerating from a stop, which would, of course, improve gas mileage.  Is this correct?  Is this all it does, or does the motor provide power assist at other times, such as when ascending a steep hill or when a passenger is on board?

 

Thanks.

[Kwasaki]

Forget it just get the ordinary 125 filano scoot, the hybrid will cost more to fix and hard to sell if people read up on hybrid vehicles.

[ktm jeff]

It provides a power boost for up to the first 12 seconds of acceleration , improving both fuel economy . and acceleration. I dont believe .the hybrid motor works any other times , or on its own ( without the engine running ).

[eisfeld]

Consider that it's not a plug-in hybrid and battery capacity is very limited. Therefor all the power that can be used must come from the combustion engine. The battery buffers some of it when not fully loaded to charge the battery and that in turn can power the electric motor for short durations. Power boost will be limited in output and duration and that's why it'll pretty much be only working when accalerating after stopping. When going uphill, the battery would be quickly exhausted and all the power from the combustion engine will already go to the wheel.

 

TLDR:

 

PRO: slightly better acceleration from standstill (haven't seen any numbers though) and maybe better fuel milage.

CON: higher purchase price, more chance for failures, potentially higher maintenance costs, unclear resale value in a couple years

 

I can't tell if it's worth it or not but to me it doesn't seem like a strong purchase reason.

[ktm jeff]

The purchase price of the Yamaha Hybrid is only a few thousand Baht above the regular model , unlike the extra 10,000 - 12,000 Baht Honda charges. Pun intended. The Hybrid motor is combined with the starter and generator. There is no extra maintenance required. The battery is a lithium iron. Should last longer than the standard models battery , but will cost a few thousand more. Running costs will be lower and resale should be more. A much better choice than the Honda version.

[Agusts]

And here I mentioned if the battery would cost more and someone said no, it's the same battery as normal model - now it's clear...????

 

[eisfeld]

19 hours ago, ktm jeff said:

The battery is a lithium iron

You probably mean Lithium Ion. Anyways the owners manual says it's a Lead Acid battery [0]. Though it does not mention the word hybrid in it anywhere so maybe they put the wrong owners manual up? I can't find anything better. So all below rests on the assumption that this is indeed the manual for the Hybrid. BUT I found a few articles like [1] which state that the main difference between the PCX Hybrid and the Grand Filano Hybrid is that the Honda actually uses a Li-Ion battery while the Yamaha just the regular Lead Acid one. And there you have also the reason why the Honda is more expensive compared to the Yamaha which adds very little cost for the Hybrid model. The Honda uses the supperior and more expensive technology.

 

Quote

This model is equipped with a VRLA(Valve Regulated Lead Acid) battery.

 

That battery (YTZ6V) is a common motorcycle battery. Its CCA is rated at 90A. 90A at 12V would give us a max power output of 1.08 kW which is less than 1.5 HP and that's before losses. One can expect something like a 1HP gain. I would suspect that the added power is hardly noticable and more a gimmik.

 

[0] https://www.yamaha-motor.co.th/docs/owner-manual/commuter/en/grand-filano-hybrid-en.pdf?Status=Master&sfvrsn=d099c56b_2

[1] https://young-machine.com/en/2018/08/25/10775/

[guzzi850m2]

We have one, the main reason was the front ABS brake which the non Hybrid didn't have at the time of purchase.

 

No problems with it so far, wife uses it almost everyday.

 

Don't like the key-less ignition system, taking some time getting used to.

 

Doubt you will save a lot of fuel, as I said I wanted a front ABS brake because my wife is not a very skilled rider.

[eisfeld]

@guzzi850m2 how's the acceleration? Do you think you can feel anything from the electric motor? Maybe it's possible to deactivate that system to see the difference?

[guzzi850m2]

Just now, eisfeld said:

@guzzi850m2 how's the acceleration? Do you think you can feel anything from the electric motor? Maybe it's possible to deactivate that system to see the difference?

I doubt it on both accounts.

 

I didn't ride it since last year when we got it, it's too small for me and I looks like an elephant on it.

 

I stick to my old pcx150 that is somewhat faster in both acceleration and top speed but uses perhaps 20- 30% more fuel, depending of how you ride.

 

[LAtoBangkok]

On 9/16/2020 at 5:45 PM, ktm jeff said:

The purchase price of the Yamaha Hybrid is only a few thousand Baht above the regular model , unlike the extra 10,000 - 12,000 Baht Honda charges. Pun intended. The Hybrid motor is combined with the starter and generator. There is no extra maintenance required. The battery is a lithium iron. Should last longer than the standard models battery , but will cost a few thousand more. Running costs will be lower and resale should be more. A much better choice than the Honda version.

My 2018 Filano Hybrid ABS Start/stop gets great gas mileage - about 230km per tank. It has great acceleration from stoplight, especially for a full automative. I'm often out ahead of anything same size. I cruise on highway comfortably 85-90 Kmh to Kao Yai, Hua Hin. I absolutely LOVE this bike. With the auto stop/start, I save a lot of gas. But the balance, storage, comfort of the bike is perfect!

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

 

On 6/15/2021 at 12:04 PM, LAtoBangkok said:

My 2018 Filano Hybrid ABS Start/stop gets great gas mileage - about 230km per tank. It has great acceleration from stoplight, especially for a full automative. I'm often out ahead of anything same size. I cruise on highway comfortably 85-90 Kmh to Kao Yai, Hua Hin. I absolutely LOVE this bike. With the auto stop/start, I save a lot of gas. But the balance, storage, comfort of the bike is perfect!

My wife and I have made this trip 4 times now. Twice in this direction, twice further out East, on our Grand Filano Hybrid. Indeed, mileage is as you say, even carrying two and a trunk stuffed with cargo. We stopped several times as our rear ends could only take so much, but only once halfway for gas.

[transam]

We have had over the years, a Click, Airblade, Grand Filano, PCX 125 and now a Grand Filano Hybrid ABS.

The latter is by far the best, comfortable (bigger tyres), very quiet and cheap to run, so far, though did have a battery problem which I may talk about in a thread. And yes, the battery boost on launch is noticeable, it is quicker than any other scoot we have had. I also like the instrument tech readout feature.

[Kibber]

On 9/17/2020 at 1:53 PM, eisfeld said:

power output of 1.08 kW which is less than 1.5 HP

1kW may not seem like much but remember that this is electric power, available from essentially 0 rpm (unlike the 8 hp the main engine has which it only gets to at 6500 rpm, which on a Filano probably happens only around 100km/h). I recently rode a Chinese electric bike that only has 2kW total power, and the acceleration from standstill is crazy good for such a small bike. I have not tried Grand Filano Hybrid myself but I don't see why the same logic would not apply there.

[VocalNeal]

16 minutes ago, Kibber said:

(unlike the 8 hp the main engine has which it only gets to at 6500 rpm, which on a Filano probably happens only around 100km/h).

Or tweak the transmission so the power at 6500 is available from take-off.???? If that is what you want. 

Works for me.