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Very true Darin. The many features of the Prius all work together to get the FE gain. Its not nearly all just from the motor/battery combo. There is the aerodynamics of it, the atkinson cycle engine, the coolant thermos (or exhaust heat exchanger on the 2010), the automatic start/stop (which can be done on conventional engines), the cvt transmission. It all adds up.
One could theoretically build a pretty fuel efficient car using most of these features minus the hybrid drivetrain. Will you see an OEM do this? Kind of. GM has its XFE models that are tweaked for better mileage. But generally the OEMs seem to limit their FE tweaks on other vehicles in an effort to sell more hybrids IMO.
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