[PaleMelanesian]

That kind of attitude, there and at GreenHybrid, is what led to the creation of CleanMPG. I'm being diplomatic when I say they're way off base.

Regen is only about 30% efficient once you consider all the conversion losses going to and from the battery pack. Much better to save the energy on the front side. I really don't see how avoiding charge/discharge cycles will do anything negative to the pack.

The car is programmed to target a mid-level battery charge. As the charge gets to the top, it increases the "desire" for it to assist, and as the charge gets low, it really wants to assist. You'll never be able to drain it fully.

The over-spinning the e-motor is a valid issue. That's why the 41 mph engine-on programming exists. It has a large margin of safety, though. On a sample plug-in Prius that Wayne got to drive, they had raised that limit to the motor's actual 60 mph limit.