Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard
That is one way to set up a serial hybrid, but Chevy has not done it that way -- they vary the ICE RPM's to adjust to the required power, and they do not charge the battery with the ICE. The reason they do this (they say) is to force you to recharge it when you get to a plug.
I'm not sure this is the right choice, overall -- but I'm sure it depends on how much you drive it each day. I think that since they had to do parts bin engineering, and used the 1.4L to begin with, they may have made the best choice for this design...
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Sounds to me that they were actually just being lazy as that requires less R&D to determine optimal operation and discharge/recharge intervals.
Any motor, even their stock 1.4l has an ideal power output, keeping the motor there as much as possible is always better than the nearly 50% variation in efficiency when you run the gamut from idle to WOT.
This brings up a point, since the motor is decoupled seems that an ECU reprogram or a manual control of the ice could allow future owners to improve the ICE mode operation of their volt.