phsycle said:
I think it is EV only up to 18mph. I haven’t read anything about range but who cares at 18mph??
No plug on either truck.
Surprisingly, the head engineer said the hybrid was designed more for power boost, not mpg. He says people don’t care about MPG or EV-range. I guess I’m in the minority.
I can see it being a distinct advantage when starting from stop with a large trailer....
EDIT 9/22:
@rruff has advised a few posts later that my understanding was incorrect -- it's not that the electric motor ONLY works up to 18 MPH, just that the gas engine ALWAYS works over 18 MPH. Therefore, what I wrote below may not be totally accurate for the new Tundra.
_____________________
That's a surprise. Its not like many people are drag racing their Toyota trucks and "need" that power off the line, but if the EV is limited to 18 mph, they won't be using it anywhere else. Towing a trailer is a good point of where this would be an advantage, but that's a pretty niche use case (the majority of trucks only tow occasionally - I'm thinking maybe not often enough to justify a hybrid system on that point alone). The same advantages to trailer towing apply off road -- handy torque down low -- but so does the niche use case argument.
I think there's likely an element of the head engineer wordsmithing a bit here, because most of the design considerations from all brands these days seems to be about fitting regulations (i.e. CAFE standards) not function. So, he might say "It's not about MPG or EV range, it's about power off the line" and that makes car guys like me happy, because we all know that more power is more better. But that power off the line in a practical sense
mostly just helps with MPGs and doesn't really do anything else for the truck, other than maybe improve driver experience. But the majority of the impact will be in MPG numbers.
Starting from a dead stop usually goes like this (highly simplified):
1st Gear, 0 to 20 KPH, engine goes from 800 to 3600 RPM and the trans shifts.
2nd gear, 20 kph to 40 kph, Engine goes from 800 to 3600 RPM and the trans shifts again
3rd gear, 40 kph to 60 kph, engine goes from 800 to 3600 and shifts. again
etc. until highway speed or 10th gear.
If they can use the electric motors to go from 0 to 30 kph, they are eliminating the engine from spooling up to 3600 RPM twice as it works through its gears. That spooling up uses a lot of fuel -- if your vehicle has "instant fuel economy", try to keep an eye on it next time you pull away from a stop. My cruising at highway speeds uses about 13-14 l/100 kms. Accelerating from a stop shows my instant fuel economy spiking to over 30 l/100 kms (which I think is as high as the gauge goes).
So, the Hybrid might be intended as a "power boost". More power is reason enough for me, and fits the "Hell Yeah, Trucks!" marketing narrative -- But likely, the real world impact is better MPGs for a big heavy truck to help Toyota match CAFE standards.