llamalander
Well-known member
It's probably worth saying that a Hybrid is not an either/or arrangement of motors.
Yes, many are programmed to run the electric motors only at low speeds, but they don't automatically shut off above a certain speed. The electric drive both adds energy to the ICE drivetrain, but captures that inertia during braking and stores it in the battery--Regen it's called. That power can then be added back to the drive-shaft and add to the ICE hp/torque... hence the increased mileage. Due to the better mileage (and not insubstantial battery weight) the fuel tank is usually smaller, because the vehicle will go just as far on less gas = better mileage.
Electric cars are often classed with MPGe, which is miles per gallon equivalent, meaning how far can an EV go on 33.41kilowatt hours of power = the equivalent electrical power in one gallon of gas. When an EV can go well over 100 miles on one MPGe, that indicates that the motor must be super efficient to move a several ton vehicle so far on so little energy--usually pretty quickly too. The benefits of adding an electric drive and regen braking to an IC vehicle are significant, and it can be done with a battery that is 10-20% the size required by an EV.
The cost, next to our fairly inexpensive gas, may take half-a-dozen years to recoup, but even so, the real costs and real benefits of hybrid and full EV vehicles can compete with internal combustion. The industrial incentive is that the automaker gets the first 6-7 years of money you don't spend on gas, instead of shell/exxon/bp. The consumer advantage is that after year 6 or 7, you give less cash to anyone, and the maintenance is less because the shared drivetrain--IC with electric boost & braking--has less wear.
It is not a fiction that the hybrid Toyotas will get such an improvement from the hybrid systems that they will move from the bottom of the MPG scale to the top of the class for offroad tanks. When other manufacturers start adding hybrid tech to their competing vehicles, we will see similar, huge, jumps in MPG.
Yes, many are programmed to run the electric motors only at low speeds, but they don't automatically shut off above a certain speed. The electric drive both adds energy to the ICE drivetrain, but captures that inertia during braking and stores it in the battery--Regen it's called. That power can then be added back to the drive-shaft and add to the ICE hp/torque... hence the increased mileage. Due to the better mileage (and not insubstantial battery weight) the fuel tank is usually smaller, because the vehicle will go just as far on less gas = better mileage.
Electric cars are often classed with MPGe, which is miles per gallon equivalent, meaning how far can an EV go on 33.41kilowatt hours of power = the equivalent electrical power in one gallon of gas. When an EV can go well over 100 miles on one MPGe, that indicates that the motor must be super efficient to move a several ton vehicle so far on so little energy--usually pretty quickly too. The benefits of adding an electric drive and regen braking to an IC vehicle are significant, and it can be done with a battery that is 10-20% the size required by an EV.
The cost, next to our fairly inexpensive gas, may take half-a-dozen years to recoup, but even so, the real costs and real benefits of hybrid and full EV vehicles can compete with internal combustion. The industrial incentive is that the automaker gets the first 6-7 years of money you don't spend on gas, instead of shell/exxon/bp. The consumer advantage is that after year 6 or 7, you give less cash to anyone, and the maintenance is less because the shared drivetrain--IC with electric boost & braking--has less wear.
It is not a fiction that the hybrid Toyotas will get such an improvement from the hybrid systems that they will move from the bottom of the MPG scale to the top of the class for offroad tanks. When other manufacturers start adding hybrid tech to their competing vehicles, we will see similar, huge, jumps in MPG.
