Quote:
Originally Posted by rgathright
Actually, the savings with electric motors comes in when you are cruising because they can just "sip" on the batteries to keep the car at speed.
Electric motors consume massive amounts of power when taking off because stall rotor current creates a "short" of sorts against the batteries. For this reason, gasoline engines are preferred for getting the car up to speed.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Daox
Can you give some reference to backup this comment? I'd have to disagree unless I hear otherwise. In my Prius, when pulling away from a stop it uses electric for the first few seconds (depending on if you mash the pedal or not). I wouldn't imagine they'd do this if it were less efficient.
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Actually, it is just that acceleration in and of itself (regardless of power source) consumes massive amounts of power vs maintaining cruise speed. When the power source is as marginal as batteries you REALLY notice the drawdown. I wish my "electric bicycle" was much more pedalling-friendly; it seems I could double the range of the battpack if I was allowed to avoid the massive drawdowns from accelerating, via pedalling.
It is for this reason that the "benefit" of systems like "e-chargers" that only serve to augment a constantly running ICE perplex me, as that is the exact opposite of what I'd want in a hybrid: for my usage profile, an ICE for accel, and battpack (plug-in ONLY- when the juice runs out it's ICE alone 'til I get to an outlet) for low-speed city and moderate speed (45-50 mph, yet admittedly range limited) hwy cruise would make for what I think would be the best efficiency scenario.
P.S. Think of it as Pulse & Powered Glide... when P&Ging, whenever you kill the ICE, instead of coasting you flip on the electric "cruise" motor....